[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 237 (Tuesday, December 9, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74732-74735]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-29055]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. DHS-2008-0130]


Privacy Act of 1974; United States Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement--008 Search, Arrest, and Seizure Records System of Records

AGENCY: Privacy Office; DHS.

ACTION: Notice of Privacy Act system of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, the Department of 
Homeland Security is giving notice that it proposes to consolidate two 
legacy record systems: Treasury/CS.212 Search/Arrest/Seizure Report and 
Treasury/CS.214 Seizure File into a Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
system of records notice titled Search, Arrest, and Seizure Records. 
Categories of individuals, categories of records, and the routine uses 
of these legacy system of records notices have been consolidated and 
updated to better reflect Immigration and Custom Enforcement's search, 
arrest, and seizure records. Additionally, DHS is issuing a Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concurrent with this SORN elsewhere in the 
Federal Register. The exemptions for the legacy system of records 
notices will continue to be applicable until the final rule for this 
SORN has been completed. This system will be included in the 
Department's inventory of record systems.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before January 8, 2009. 
This new system will be effective January 8, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number DHS-
2008-0130 by one of the following methods:
     Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: 1-866-466-5370.
     Mail: Hugo Teufel III, Chief Privacy Officer, Privacy 
Office, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528.
     Instructions: All submissions received must include the 
agency name and docket number for this rulemaking. All comments 
received will be posted without change and may be read at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.
     Docket: For access to the docket to read background 
documents or comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general issues please contact Lyn 
Rahilly, Privacy Officer, (202) 732-3300), Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement, 500 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20024, e-mail: 
[email protected]. For privacy issues please contact Hugo Teufel III 
(703-235-0780), Chief Privacy Officer, Privacy Office, U.S. Department 
of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Pursuant to the savings clause in the Homeland Security Act of 
2002, Public Law 107-296, Section 1512, 116 Stat. 2310 (November 25, 
2002), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its component 
agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have relied on 
preexisting Privacy Act system of records notices for the collection 
and maintenance of records pertaining to ICE's arrests of individuals, 
and searches, detentions, and seizures of property pursuant to ICE's 
law enforcement authorities. As part of its efforts to streamline and 
consolidate its record systems, DHS is establishing a component system 
of records under the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C.

[[Page 74733]]

552a) for ICE to cover these records. The collection and maintenance of 
this information will assist ICE in meeting its obligation to record 
its actions regarding searches of individuals and property, arrests of 
individuals, and detentions and seizures of property and goods pursuant 
to ICE's law enforcement authorities.
    In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, DHS is giving notice 
that it proposes to consolidate two legacy record systems: Treasury/
CS.212 Search/Arrest/Seizure Report (66 FR 52984 October 18, 2001) and 
Treasury/CS.214 Seizure File (66 FR 52984 October 18, 2001) into an ICE 
system of records notice titled Search, Arrest, and Seizure Records. 
Categories of individuals, categories of records, and the routine uses 
of these legacy system of records notices have been consolidated and 
updated to better reflect ICE's search, arrest, and seizure records. 
Additionally, DHS is issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) 
concurrent with this SORN elsewhere in the Federal Register. The 
exemptions for the legacy system of records notices will continue to be 
applicable until the final rule for this SORN has been completed. This 
system will be included in the Department's inventory of record 
systems.

II. Privacy Act

    The Privacy Act embodies fair information principles in a statutory 
framework governing the means by which the United States Government 
collects, maintains, uses, and disseminates individuals' information. 
The Privacy Act applies to information that is maintained in a ``system 
of records.'' A ``system of records'' is a group of any records under 
the control of an agency for which information is retrieved by the name 
of an individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other 
identifying particular assigned to the individual. In the Privacy Act, 
an individual is defined to encompass United States citizens and lawful 
permanent residents. As a matter of policy, DHS extends administrative 
Privacy Act protections to all individuals where systems of records 
maintain information on U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and 
visitors. Individuals may request access to their own records that are 
maintained in a system of records in the possession or under the 
control of DHS by complying with DHS Privacy Act regulations, 6 CFR 
Part 5.
    The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish in the Federal 
Register a description denoting the type and character of each system 
of records that the agency maintains, and the routine uses that are 
contained in each system in order to make agency record keeping 
practices transparent, to notify individuals regarding the uses of 
their records, and to assist individuals to more easily find such files 
within the agency. Below is the description of the DHS/ICE Search, 
Arrest, and Seizure Records system of records.
    In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), DHS has provided a report of 
this system of records to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and 
to Congress.
System of Records
DHS/ICE-008

System name:
    Immigration and Customs Enforcement Search, Arrest, and Seizure 
Records.

Security classification:
    Unclassified. Law Enforcement Sensitive (LES).

System location:
    Records are maintained at the U.S. Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement (ICE) Headquarters in Washington, DC and in field offices.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:
    Categories of individuals covered by this system include persons 
who violated, or are believed to have violated, the laws and 
regulations enforced by ICE, including those who have been 
administratively or criminally charged with violations of such laws and 
regulations. Also included in this system are owners, claimants, and 
other interested parties of the detained, seized and/or forfeited 
property.

Categories of records in the system:
    Categories of records in this system may include: Information about 
individuals:
     Name;
     Nationality;
     Aliases;
     Social Security Number;
     Fingerprints;
     Date of birth;
     Physical description of individual;
     Addresses;
     Telephone numbers;
     Occupation;
     Place of business;
     Driver's license number;
    Information about the search, seizure, or detention of goods or 
property, or the search or arrest of individuals:
     Search/arrest/seizure/detention date;
     License and registration number of vehicle, vessel and/or 
aircraft;
     Individual and/or contraband's mode of entry;
     Photographs related to searches, detentions, seizures, or 
arrests;
     Declaration forms submitted to U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection;
     Receipts of cash, goods, or other property seized, 
detained, or forfeited;
     Description of goods or other property seized, detained, 
searched, or forfeited;
     Estimated foreign value of seized goods or other property;
     Duty paid and owed;
     Domestic value of seized goods or other property;
     Notices provided to owners, claimants, or other interested 
parties pertaining to seized goods or other property;
     Reports of arrests, searches, detentions and seizures by 
ICE including the circumstances of the seizure, including reports from 
other law enforcement agencies;
     Section of law violated; and
     Seized or detained records in both paper and electronic 
form, including computers, computer records, disks, hard drives, flash 
drives and other electronic media and storage devices.

Authority for maintenance of the system:
    5 U.S.C. 301; 19 U.S.C. 66, 1618, 1625; 19 U.S.C. 8; 19 CFR Parts 
171 and 172; the Federal Records Act, 44 U.S.C. 3101; Executive Order 
9373.

Purpose(s):
    The purpose of this system is to document all information and 
activity related to ICE searches of individuals and property, arrests 
of individuals, and seizures of goods, as well as related information 
about the individuals or entities suspected of violations of laws and 
regulations enforced by ICE. The system is also intended to facilitate 
communication between ICE and foreign and domestic law enforcement 
agencies for the purpose of enforcement and administration of laws, 
including immigration and customs laws.

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories 
of users and the purposes of such uses:
    In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C. 
552a(b) of the Privacy Act, all or a portion of the records of 
information contained in this system may be disclosed outside DHS as a 
routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as follows:
    A. To the Department of Justice (including United States Attorney

[[Page 74734]]

Offices) or other Federal agency conducting litigation or in 
proceedings before any court, adjudicative or administrative body when 
it is necessary to the litigation and one of the following is a party 
to the litigation or has an interest in such litigation:
    1. DHS or any component thereof;
    2. any employee of DHS in his/her official capacity;
    3. any employee of DHS in his/her individual capacity where the 
Department of Justice or DHS has agreed to represent the employee; or
    4. the United States or any agency thereof, is a party to the 
litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and DHS determines 
that the records are both relevant and necessary to the litigation and 
the use of such records is compatible with the purpose for which DHS 
collected the records.
    B. To a congressional office from the record of an individual in 
response to an inquiry from that congressional office made at the 
request of the individual to whom the record pertains.
    C. To the National Archives and Records Administration or other 
Federal government agencies pursuant to records management inspections 
being conducted under the authority of 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.
    D. To an agency, organization, or individual for the purpose of 
performing audit or oversight operations as authorized by law, but only 
such information as is necessary and relevant to such audit or 
oversight function.
    E. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when:
    1. DHS suspects or has confirmed that the security or 
confidentiality of information in the system of records has been 
compromised;
    2. The Department has determined that as a result of the suspected 
or confirmed compromise there is a risk of harm to economic or property 
interests, identity theft or fraud, or harm to the security or 
integrity of this system or other systems or programs (whether 
maintained by DHS or another agency or entity) or harm to the 
individual who relies upon the compromised information; and
    3. The disclosure made to such agencies, entities, and persons is 
reasonably necessary to assist in connection with DHS's efforts to 
respond to the suspected or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, 
or remedy such harm.
    F. To contractors and their agents, grantees, experts, consultants, 
and others performing or working on a contract, service, grant, 
cooperative agreement, or other assignment for DHS, when necessary to 
accomplish an agency function related to this system of records. 
Individuals provided information under this routine use are subject to 
the same Privacy Act requirements and limitations on disclosure as are 
applicable to DHS officers and employees.
    G. To an appropriate Federal, State, tribal, local, international, 
or foreign law enforcement agency or other appropriate authority 
charged with investigating or prosecuting a violation or enforcing or 
implementing a law, rule, regulation, or order, where a record, either 
on its face or in conjunction with other information, indicates a 
violation or potential violation of law, which includes criminal, 
civil, or regulatory violations and such disclosure is proper and 
consistent with the official duties of the person making the 
disclosure.
    H. To an appropriate Federal, State, local, tribal, foreign, or 
international agency, if the information is relevant and necessary to a 
requesting agency's decision concerning the hiring or retention of an 
individual, or issuance of a security clearance, license, contract, 
grant, or other benefit, or if the information is relevant and 
necessary to a DHS decision concerning the hiring or retention of an 
employee, the issuance of a security clearance, the reporting of an 
investigation of an employee, the letting of a contract, or the 
issuance of a license, grant or other benefit and disclosure is 
appropriate to the proper performance of the official duties of the 
person making the request.
    I. To a court, magistrate, or administrative tribunal in the course 
of presenting evidence, including disclosures to opposing counsel or 
witnesses in the course of civil discovery, litigation, or settlement 
negotiations or in connection with criminal law proceedings or in 
response to a subpoena from a court of competent jurisdiction.
    J. To third parties during the course of a law enforcement 
investigation to the extent necessary to obtain information pertinent 
to the investigation, provided disclosure is appropriate to the proper 
performance of the official duties of the officer making the 
disclosure.
    K. To international and foreign governmental authorities in 
accordance with the law and formal or informal international 
arrangements.
    L. To the news media and the public, with the approval of the Chief 
Privacy Officer in consultation with counsel, when there exists a 
legitimate public interest in the disclosure of the information or when 
disclosure is necessary to preserve confidence in the integrity of DHS 
or is necessary to demonstrate the accountability of DHS's officers, 
employees, or individuals covered by the system, except to the extent 
it is determined that release of the specific information in the 
context of a particular case would constitute an unwarranted invasion 
of personal privacy.

Disclosure to consumer reporting agencies:
    None.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, 
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
    Records in this system are stored electronically or on paper in 
secure facilities in a locked drawer behind a locked door. The records 
are also stored on magnetic disc, tape, digital media, and CD-ROM.

Retrievability:
    Records are retrieved by individual's name, Social Security Number, 
ICE case number, vehicle, vessel, or aircraft number.

Safeguards:
    Records in this system are safeguarded in accordance with 
applicable rules and policies, including all applicable DHS automated 
system security access policies. Strict controls have been imposed to 
minimize the risk of compromising the information that is being stored. 
Access to the computer system containing the records in this system is 
limited to those individuals who have a need to know the information 
for the performance of their official duties and who have appropriate 
clearances or permissions.

Retention and disposal:
    Records are maintained for 5 years after final disposition, and 
then are transferred to the Federal Records Center. Records are 
destroyed 20 years after final disposition. Disposal of paper files 
occurs by burning or shredding; electronic data is disposed of using 
methods approved by the DHS Chief Information Security Officer.

System Manager and address:
    Unit Chief, Executive Information Unit/Program Management Oversight 
(EIU/PMO), Office of Investigations, Mission Support Division, U.S. 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Potomac Center North, 500 12th 
St., SW., Washington, DC 20024.

Notification procedure:
    Individuals seeking notification of and access to any record 
contained in this system of records, or seeking to

[[Page 74735]]

contest its content, may submit a request in writing to the component's 
FOIA Officer, whose contact information can be found at http://www.dhs.gov/foia under ``contacts.'' If an individual believes more 
than one component maintains Privacy Act records concerning him or her 
the individual may submit the request to the Chief Privacy Officer, 
Department of Homeland Security, 245 Murray Drive, SW., Building 410, 
STOP-0550, Washington, DC 20528.
    When seeking records about yourself from this system of records or 
any other Departmental system of records your request must conform with 
the Privacy Act regulations set forth in 6 CFR Part 5. You must first 
verify your identity, meaning that you must provide your full name, 
current address and date and place of birth. You must sign your 
request, and your signature must either be notarized or submitted under 
28 U.S.C. 1746, a law that permits statements to be made under penalty 
of perjury as a substitute for notarization. While no specific form is 
required, you may obtain forms for this purpose from the Director, 
Disclosure and FOIA, http://www.dhs.gov or 1-866-431-0486. In addition 
you should provide the following:
     An explanation of why you believe the Department would 
have information on you,
     Identify which component(s) of the Department you believe 
may have the information about you,
     Specify when you believe the records would have been 
created,
     Provide any other information that will help the FOIA 
staff determine which DHS component agency may have responsive records,
     If your request is seeking records pertaining to another 
living individual, you must include a statement from that individual 
certifying his/her agreement for you to access his/her records.
    Without this bulleted information the component(s) will not be able 
to conduct an effective search, and your request may be denied due to 
lack of specificity or lack of compliance with applicable regulations.

Record access procedures:
    See ``Notification procedure'' above.

Contesting record procedures:
    See ``Notification procedure'' above.

Record source categories:
    Individuals who have been subject to search or arrest; owners, 
claimants, and other interested parties of detained, seized and/or 
forfeited property; other Federal agencies, and State, tribal and local 
law enforcement agencies; confidential sources; and members of the 
public.

Exemptions claimed for the system:
    Pursuant to exemption 5 U.S.C. 552a(j)(2) of the Privacy Act, 
portions of this system are exempt from 5 U.S.C. 552a(c)(3) and (4); 
(d); (e)(1), (e)(2), (e)(3), (e)(4)(G), and (e)(4)(H), (e)(5) and 
(e)(8); (f); and (g). Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2), this system is 
exempt from the following provisions of the Privacy Act, subject to the 
limitations set forth in those subsections: 5 U.S.C. 552a(c)(3), (d), 
(e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (e)(4)(H), and (f). In addition, to the extent a 
record contains information from other exempt systems of records, ICE 
will rely on the exemptions claimed for those systems.

    Dated: November 28, 2008.
Hugo Teufel III,
Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. E8-29055 Filed 12-8-08; 8:45 am]
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