[Federal Register: September 11, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 177)]
[Notices]
[Page 52865-52868]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr11se08-77]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Office of the Secretary
[Docket No. DHS-2008-0079]
Privacy Act of 1974; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Bond Management Information System (BMIS) 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 and as part of the
Department of Homeland Security's ongoing effort to review and update
legacy system of record notices, U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) proposes to republish a legacy record system titled
Justice/INS.008, Bond Management Information System (63 FR 70159, Dec.
18, 1998) as an ICE system of records titled Bond Management
Information System. Categories of individuals, categories of records,
and the routine uses of this legacy system of records notice has been
consolidated and updated to better reflect the agency's immigration
bond administration and financial management records. This system will
be included in the Department of Homeland Security's inventory of
record systems. ICE is not claiming any Privacy Act exemptions for this
system of records.
DATES: The established system of records will be effective October 14,
2008. Written comments must be submitted on or before October 14, 2008.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number DHS-
2008-0079 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 to 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: Lyn Rahilly (202-514-1900), Privacy
Officer, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 425 I Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20536, or Hugo Teufel III (703-235-0780), Chief Privacy
Officer, Privacy Office, U.S. Department of Homeland Security,
Washington, DC 20528.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Bond Management Information System (BMIS) is a collection of
records used to record and maintain for bond administration and
financial management purposes the immigration bonds that are posted for
aliens. Immigration bond administration includes tracking the issuance,
maintenance, cancellation, and revocation of bonds. Financial
management activities include collection, reimbursement or forfeiture
of the bond principal, and calculation and payment of interest,
including issuance of IRS Form 1099 to the obligor reflecting interest
paid on the bond. Pursuant to the savings clause in the Homeland
Security Act of 2002, Public Law 107-296, section 1512, 116 Stat. 2310
(November 25, 2002), DHS and its components and offices have relied on
preexisting Privacy Act systems of records notices for the maintenance
of records that concern the administration and financial management
operations of ICE's immigration bond program.
The BMIS system of records includes immigration bond data
maintained in ICE's enforcement records and in BMIS Web, a new
immigration bond management database that will be used by the ICE
Office of Financial Management to track the life cycle of immigration
bonds from the time an individual posts the bond at an ICE Detention
and Removal Operations (DRO) field office until the bond is considered
closed. BMIS Web launched as a pilot in August 2008, with full
deployment scheduled for September 2008. With the deployment of BMIS
Web, ICE will retire the predecessor database known as BMIS. A PIA was
conducted on BMIS Web because it is a new system that will maintain
personally identifiable information. The BMIS Web PIA is available on
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Privacy Office Web site at
http://www.dhs.gov/privacy.
An immigration bond is a formal written guaranty by the obligor
posted as security for the amount of the bond that assures DHS that all
of the conditions of the bond will be fulfilled by the obligor as
guarantor. Immigration bonds may be posted for the release from
detention of aliens in removal proceedings and/or as voluntary
departure bonds. Immigration bonds may be posted by surety companies
that have obtained a certificate to do so from the U.S. Treasury
Department, or by an individual's or entity's pledge (deposit) of cash
or U.S. securities. If the conditions of a bond are satisfied, the bond
must be cancelled and, if a cash bond, the principal and accrued
interest returned to the obligor. If a bond is declared breached, the
cash deposited as security will be forfeited and accrued interest
returned to the obligor. Surety companies must make payment to DHS for
the full amount of the bond plus interest and penalties. All of these
bond activities are tracked in BMIS.
BMIS maintains personal information about individuals who post cash
bonds (known as obligors) or who request a surety bond (known as
indemnitors), the bonded alien, the surety company and bonding agency/
agent, and other general information about the bond itself, such as
amount, number, date, etc. Information about the bonded alien may be
shared with individuals or entities seeking to post or that have
already posted an immigration bond for the
[[Page 52866]]
alien. BMIS information is also shared with the Internal Revenue
Service to report any interest paid to obligors. Information about
surety bonds may be shared with Department of Justice legal counsel;
the U.S. Treasury Department; insurance investigators for surety
companies; or bonding agencies and legal representatives for surety
companies and bonding agencies. This information is shared when ICE is
pursuing further collection efforts on the surety bond receivables or
if an agent or bonding agency that posts surety bonds is being
investigated for its business practices.
Consistent with DHS's information sharing mission, information
stored in BMIS may be shared with other DHS components, as well as
appropriate Federal, State, local, tribal, foreign, or international
government agencies. This sharing will only take place after DHS
determines that the receiving component or agency has a need to know
the information to carry out national security, law enforcement,
immigration, intelligence, or other functions consistent with the
routine uses set forth in this system of records notice.
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 personally identifiable
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 to
which personally identifiable information is put, and to assist
individuals to more easily find such files within the agency. Below is
the description of the BMIS system of records.
In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), DHS has provided a report of
this new system of records to the Office of Management and Budget and
to Congress.
SYSTEM OF RECORDS
DHS/ICE-004.
SYSTEM NAME:
Bond Management Information System.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
Unclassified.
SYSTEM LOCATION:
Records are maintained at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) Headquarters in Washington, DC; ICE Office of Financial
Management facilities in Williston, Vermont; and ICE field offices.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
Categories of individuals covered by this system include:
Individuals who post cash immigration bonds for aliens (known as
obligors); aliens for whom an immigration bond is posted (known as
bonded aliens); individuals that arrange for the posting of surety
bonds for aliens (known as indemnitors); individual bond agents who
post surety bonds; and notaries public and attorneys.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
For the Obligor: Name; Social Security Number/Tax Identification
Number; address; phone number.
For the Bonded Alien: Name; alien number; location (while in
detention); Address(es) and phone number of residence upon release;
date and country of birth; nationality; and date and port of arrival;
For the Indemnitor: Name; address(es); and phone number.
For the Bonding Agent: Name; Tax Identification Number;
address(es); and phone number.
General bond information, including: bond number; bond amount;
securities pledged; bond types; bond status; location and date of
posted bond; dates for bond-related activities, such as declaration of
breach; names and titles of DHS officials that approve, cancel, or
declare breaches of bonds; names and contact information for notary
public and attorney in fact; information such as dates, forms, status
and outcome, concerning motions to reconsider a breach or cancellation
of bonds; and information such as dates, forms, status and outcome,
about bond-related appeals.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
Sections 103, 213, 236, 240B, and 293 of the Immigration and
Nationality Act, as amended (8 U.S.C. 1103, 1183, 1226, 1229c, and
1363, respectively).
PURPOSE(S):
The purpose of this system is to maintain records related to the
administration and financial management operations of ICE's immigration
bond program. Immigration bond administration includes the issuance,
maintenance, cancellation, and revocation of bonds. Financial
management operations include collection, reimbursement or forfeiture
of the bond principal, and calculation and payment of interest,
including issuance of IRS Form 1099 to the obligor reflecting interest
paid on the bond.
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 or
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 or other Federal agency conducting
litigation or in proceedings before any court, adjudicative or
administrative body, when (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 DOJ 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
[[Page 52867]]
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) ICE
suspects or has confirmed that the security or confidentiality of
information in the system of records has been compromised; (2) ICE 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 ICE or another agency
or entity) that rely upon the compromised information, or harm to the
individual; and (3) the disclosure made to such agencies, entities, and
persons is reasonably necessary to assist in connection with ICE'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 the U.S. Treasury Department to facilitate payments owed to
obligors and for the reporting of interest payments to the Internal
Revenue Service.
I. To the Department of Justice, the U.S. Treasury Department,
other appropriate Federal agencies, State insurance regulators, credit
bureaus, debt collection agencies, legal representatives for surety
companies and bonding agencies, and insurance investigators to provide
information relevant to (1) investigations of an agent or bonding
agency that posts surety bonds, or (2) activities related to collection
of unpaid monies owed to the U.S. Government on immigration bonds.
J. To agencies, individuals, or entities as necessary to locate
individuals who are owed money or property connected with the issuance
of an immigration bond.
K. To an individual or entity seeking to post or arrange, or who
has already posted or arranged, an immigration bond for an alien to aid
the individual or entity in (1) identifying the location of the alien,
or (2) posting the bond, obtaining payments related to the bond, or
conducting other administrative or financial management activities
related to the bond.
L. To the news media and the public, with the approval of the Chief
Privacy Officer in consultation with legal 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:
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(12), disclosures may be made from this
system to consumer reporting agencies in accordance with 31 U.S.C.
3711(e).
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 stored on magnetic disc, tape, digital media, and CD-ROM.
RETRIEVABILITY:
Records may be retrieved by any of the following: bond number,
Social Security or Tax Identification Numbers (SSN/TIN), alien name,
alien number, obligor name, surety company name, or location and date
bond was posted.
SAFEGUARDS:
Records in this system are safeguarded in accordance with
applicable rules and policies, including all applicable DHS automated
systems security and access policies. Strict controls have been imposed
to minimize the risk of compromising the information that is being
stored. Access to the computer systems 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. The system maintains a real-time
auditing function of individuals who access electronic records.
Additional safeguards may vary by component and program.
RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
Under the existing retention schedule, information is retained for
six years and three months after the bond is closed or cancelled and
the collateral is returned to the obligor. Copies of the Form I-352
(Immigration Bond) are placed into the alien's A-File and maintained
for the life of that file (75 years).
SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:
Director, Financial Systems Modernization, 800 K Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20536; Director, Office of Detention and Removal, 425 I
Street, NW., Washington, DC 20536.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
Individuals seeking notification of and access to any record
contained in this system of records, or seeking to 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
or 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,
[[Page 52868]]
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:
Information is obtained from individuals, entities, indemnitors,
surety companies, and bonding agencies and agents.
EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
None.
Dated: September 3, 2008.
John W. Kropf,
Acting Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. E8-21075 Filed 9-10-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-10-P