Oversight Project Sues DHS for Removal, Self-Deportation and "Exit Bonus" Records

The Oversight Project and its president, Mike Howell, have sued the Department of Homeland Security in federal court, alleging the department has missed legal deadlines to decide three Freedom of Information Act requests for data on deportations, self-deportations and payments to migrants who left the country through a government app.

The complaint, Oversight Project v. Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:26-cv-03953, was filed Nov. 9, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It describes the suit as "an action under the Freedom of Information Act ('FOIA'), 5 U.S.C. § 552, to compel the production of records from the Department regarding the total number of illegal aliens removed by the Department and the total number of illegal aliens who voluntarily departed the United States."

The Oversight Project is an independent nonprofit that was spun off from the Heritage Foundation in March 2025. The complaint describes it as a 501(c)(4) organization.

What the Requests Sought

According to the complaint, the plaintiffs submitted three requests on Sept. 18, 2026.

The first, sent to the DHS Privacy Office and logged as No. 2026-HQFO-03938, sought "records sufficient to show the number of aliens that have self-deported via the CBP Home mobile application from May 1 through September 16, 2026," along with records showing how much DHS "has spent in 'stipends' and/or 'exit bonuses'" to people who self-deported through the app over the same period.

The second and third requests, one to the DHS Privacy Office (No. 2026-HQFO-03939) and one to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (No. 2026-ICFO-41776), sought "the number of removals for seven categories for the months of May, June, July, and August 2026." The complaint's body does not list the seven categories.

How the Agency Responded, According to the Complaint

The complaint says DHS acknowledged both of its requests by email on Sept. 18 and "conditionally granted" the fee waivers the plaintiffs sought. ICE acknowledged its request on Sept. 26, according to the filing, but "made no determination on the fee waiver request" and invoked "unusual circumstances," a provision that lets an agency extend its response deadline by 10 working days.

On Oct. 23, DHS transferred one of its requests to ICE, the complaint says. "Plaintiffs have not received any other communications since the Transfer Letter," it states, adding that DHS "has not made determinations on the Requests" or on the fee waiver requests.

The plaintiffs argue the deadlines have passed: "Twenty working days from September 18, 2026 is October 19, 2026," the complaint says, and thirty working days, the extended period, ran to Nov. 2. Because of that, it argues, the plaintiffs "have constructively exhausted their administrative remedies" and can go to court.

Claims and Relief Sought

The complaint raises four claims under FOIA: failure to conduct adequate searches, wrongful withholding of non-exempt records, wrongful denial of a fee waiver, and a claim that DHS is now barred by statute from charging fees because it missed FOIA's time limits.

It asks the court to declare the department's failure to disclose the records and to make timely determinations unlawful; to order DHS to conduct searches "reasonably calculated to uncover all records responsive"; to order production of non-exempt records "within twenty days of the Court's order, or by such other date as the Court deems appropriate," with indexes justifying anything withheld; and to award costs and attorneys' fees.

Eric Neal Cornett and Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Sr., signed the complaint as counsel. The plaintiffs also filed a notice listing Case No. 26-cv-2394 as related, according to the docket.

Clark, the group's vice president for litigation, told the Daily Caller, which reported on the suit Nov. 10: "We are heading back to federal court because the public has a right to the truth, and we will not rest until the actual deportation numbers are fully disclosed."

The Daily Caller also reported that the group filed a separate lawsuit in July over earlier deportation-data requests, and that DHS released a fully redacted two-page "CBP Home Voluntary Self-Departures Summary" in that matter. The Digital Free Press has not independently reviewed that document.

As of Nov. 10, the court docket showed no response from DHS in the case.

Sources: The complaint, Oversight Project v. Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:26-cv-03953 (D.D.C.), filed Nov. 9, 2026: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.298642/gov.uscourts.dcd.298642.1.0.pdf ; the case docket on CourtListener: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/75091438/oversight-project-v-department-of-homeland-security/ ; the Daily Caller, "Deportation Data Dispute Sparks Another Oversight Project Lawsuit Against Trump DHS," Nov. 10, 2026: https://dailycaller.com/2026/11/10/deportation-data-oversight-project-lawsuit-trump-dhs-homeland-security-redacted-docs-mike-howell ; Cover photo: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters, 500 12th Street SW, Washington, D.C., by G. Edward Johnson, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).