NARA Responds to Controversial ICE Records Destruction Request

Source:  libraryjournal.com

by Lisa Peet

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has requested that National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Records Management sign off on a records retention schedule that would potentially destroy detainee records in 11 item categories, including accounts of solitary confinement, assault, sexual abuse, and investigations into deaths in ICE custody. Proposed retention periods ranged from 20 years for sexual assault and death records to three years for solitary confinement reports; this means that records dating back to ICE’s founding in 2003 could be destroyed as early as 2023.

All federal agencies periodically propose a retention schedule for a series of records to NARA, to determine which must be retained permanently in the National Archives and which can be considered temporary—and how long temporary records must be retained before they can be destroyed. NARA staff reviews each submission, typically meeting with agency subject matter experts, before the records schedule is approved by the Archivist of the United States.

In addition to deciding which records have lasting historical or research value and warrant permanent retention, NARA reviews the retention periods proposed for temporary records to ensure that those spans protect the legal rights of both the Government and private parties. Public input on the proposed schedules is mandated by law, and is solicited through comments on a notice posted to the Federal Register.

ICE’s proposed schedule DAA-0567-2015-0013, submitted in October 2015, represented a new request for the disposition of unscheduled records, rather than a change to an existing schedule. Since it was posted to the Federal Register on July 14, 2017, it has garnered an unprecedented number of comments, received substantial attention in the media, and raised concerns among archivists, historians, and civil liberties organizations.

America!! Wake Up Now or Sleep Forever

By Miss American/ppj contributor

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Many of the minority of U.S. citizens who are watching in shock and horror over what The Powers That Be (TPTB) are doing to our country,  have come to the conclusion that it may very well be too late for America.  We know that we’ve been fighting this coup de tat by evil predators nearly singlehandedly.  We know too, that our friends and neighbors are tired of our warning cries, e-mails, and activism.  So we’ve learned to stop ‘bothering’ them.  Even more depressing is that in many cases, to keep the peace, we’ve had to go silent with our own families as well.  We have been a thorn in their side, and can feel them shutting down mentally and throwing up their guard whenever we are around.  So, instead of showing our alarm and panic, we absurdly chatter about the weather or their new carpeting or their upcoming vacation.  Some activists have stated that none of them will deserve our help or sympathy when the SHTF, or that due to their denial, apathy, and lack of discernment, they won’t deserve to survive.

And how unfair will it be if the whole thing does go down the tubes because these people were willfully ignorant, or too self-absorbed to care about what was freaking us out?  Our anger has grown toward our ‘neighbors’ and fellow Americans because we know if they’d been fighting right along with us from the get-go, this might have been avoided.  Power in numbers.  As it is, TPTB have happily fed them whatever they will lap up, and have been arrogantly secure in their power to do so.   They delight in the blue-blooded Americans, who have no care for their ancestors’ sacrifice and bravery to keep our lives and country strong and free, and our future bright.  There’s actually grave danger when we take good things for granted and sit back on our laurels!