Imagine you are an immigrant who fled your home country to the United States for fear of persecution or torture.
You may be worried that your own government or gangs will find out you’re seeking safety in the United States and retaliate against you or the family you left behind.
What you definitely don’t want is for the agency that processes your asylum application to handle your personal information carelessly, potentially endangering the lives of you and your loved ones.
For this reason, federal regulations prohibit the disclosure of sensitive information about asylum seekers without the approval of a senior US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official.
But despite safeguards and regulations, the inadvertent publication of personal information on a website by DHS’s arm, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), put thousands of people’s lives at risk. It has been.
ICE has confirmed that it “accidentally” posted the names, dates of birth, nationalities and places of detention of 6,252 immigrants during its regular update on November 28, 2022.
The highly sensitive information was accessible on ICE’s website for five hours before it was discovered by immigration advocacy group Human Rights First.
According to media reports, ICE has now released about 3,000 people whose personal information was compromised in an accidental data breach and will not deport affected immigrants until they have had a chance to make their case in immigration court. decided.
While it can mitigate some of the damage caused by an inadvertent data breach, it is of no help to the 100+ migrants whose information was contained in the breach and who had already been deported when the breach was discovered. It won’t even be.
It also doesn’t help the less than 10 people officials say were deported shortly after the breach was discovered and weren’t told what happened.
In an attempt to make amends, ICE says it is happy to assist those who have been deported to return to the United States and seek asylum again.
Immigration Attorney Curtis Morrison To tell He has filed lawsuits on behalf of more than 20 immigrant detainees who have been reportedly compromised by data breaches.
Meanwhile, ICE says it will allow some immigrants who have been victims of data breaches to seek asylum even if they would not normally be eligible.
Would that be enough to combat the damage caused by a data breach? Somehow I don’t think so. If I were one of those unfortunate people who fled the country in search of a better life, I’m not sure I would be happy.
