Chair Lee questions EO 13 audit gaps and reporting improvements
Lee asks about the significant gaps identified. Ali explains many interactions weren't reported due to ineffective tracking, incidents surfacing after reports were published, or guidance not requiring reporting of subpoenas and warrants. New guidance now requires over-inclusive reporting.
Can you describe in a little bit of detail what those significant gaps were?
Yeah, the audit revealed
that many interactions between city agencies and federal immigration authorities
were not reported at all, either because agencies weren't effectively tracking those interactions because incidents surfaced maybe after relevant reports had already been published or because the existing guidance
didn't require reporting interactions such as subpoenas and warrants and other instances where federal agents forcefully entered city property.
And I think to directly address these gaps, the mayor has updated and approved additional guidance that will be issued by the IRC.
And in this guidance, reporting requirements have been strengthened and clarified, including by expanding the types of interactions that are subject to that reporting.
In short, agencies are now directed to be over-inclusive in what they report to MOIA.
And did you see any gaps from your own data analysis that maybe weren't in the
audit, the official audit, or that you may have put in there from your own analysis or just recognized were missing from the report?
Yeah, you know, I think until now, the reports that were issued by MOIA, they categorize like other instances as any types of interaction between city agencies and federal immigration agencies that were not otherwise subject to reporting.
So that was.
As I mentioned earlier, it was something that we also had identified as a gap.