New GAO Reports: FOIA Agency Backlogs, Immigration Law to Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: Pending Legislation Would Apply U.S. Immigration Law to the CNMI with a Transition Period, GAO-08-466, March 28, 2008
Freedom of Information Act: Agencies Are Making Progress in Reducing Backlog, but Additional Guidance Is Needed, GAO-08-344, March 14, 2008: “Based on data reported by major agencies in annual FOIA reports from fiscal years 2002 to 2006, the numbers of FOIA requests received and processed continue to rise, but the rate of increase has flattened in recent years. The number of pending requests carried over from year to year has also increased, although the rate of increase has declined. The increase in pending requests is primarily due to increases in requests directed to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In particular, increases have occurred at DHS’s Citizenship and Immigration Services, which accounted for about 89 percent of DHS’s total pending requests…In response to GAO’s request, 16 agencies provided information on their recent progress in addressing backlogs; results showed that 9 achieved decreases, 5 experienced increases, and 2 had no material change. Notably, according to this information, DHS was able to decrease its backlog of overdue requests by 29,972, or about 29 percent. However, the statistics provided by the 16 agencies varied widely, representing both overdue cases and all pending cases, as well as varying time frames…”