It's been a busy few months here at DEAP HQ as our initial trial balloon FOIAs were sent and processed and we've been working in the background continually updating our website to make it as easy as possible to search and analyze the data that our FOIA requests pull in.

And on top of that, we at DEAP jumped into respond to a massive change in immigration policy regarding prosecutorial discretion - making difficult to get and much-needed information about how to get people out of deportation proceedings available to all. More on that later.

In our first big update on Open Collective, we wanted to focus on our new FOIA system, MuckRock. When we started DEAP, we knew that FOIA requests would be a cornerstone of our work; public access to information laws have been integral to those seeking to shine a light on how the governmental sausage gets made. Luckily, making public record requests has evolved for the better since it was a part of my day to day work, and I am happy to say that we've found a solution that doesn't require tracking down FOIA email addresses or sending hard copy requests and waiting for months only to receive an acknowledgment.

As we prepare to delve into millions of pages of deportation data, we knew we needed a FOIA solution that would not only make it as easy as possible for us to file and track our requests, but that would also let us share the process behind obtaining deportation data through public records requests - after all, the information we at DEAP seek to spotlight shouldn't be secret. We want everyone to know exactly how hard we fight to obtain this information and how to do their own meaningful deportation research. 

To that end, we are delighted to announce that we've found the perfect solution in MuckRock,  a "non-profit, collaborative news site that brings together journalists, researchers, activists, and regular citizens to request, analyze, and share government documents" to make "politics more transparent and democracies more informed."

MuckRock not only helps us file our FOIA requests in a way that promotes the quickest response time from the government, but also allows us to share our FOIA process from start to finish. Seriously - check out our trial balloon FOIA request here to see all the back and forth between DEAP and FOIA officers all to end up with a measly four immigration decisions.  

You can check out DEAP's MuckRock page at any time to see our latest FOIAs. Once heftier FOIA results start rolling in, you'll also be able to sign up to help us analyze the data and personally contribute to shining sunlight on deportations in the United States.

Anxious for more FOIAs? A $25 donation funds a FOIA request.