U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported on Wednesday that for around five hours, the personal information of over 6,000 persons in its custody was unintentionally posted to its website.
According to Human Rights First, an advocacy group that found the leak on Monday, the information includes names, nationalities, the detention facilities where the prisoners were kept, and special numbers used to identify them in government databases.
According to Human Rights First, each of the 6,252 people whose identities were revealed expressed fear of persecution if their requests to remain in the United States were denied and they were sent back home.
The organization’s senior director for refugee protection, Eleanor Acer, expressed concern that inmates or their families would face harm in their native nations.
“In some countries, people are targeted, retaliated against for seeking asylum,” said Acer.
The agency removed the information from its public website 11 minutes after being told that an Excel spreadsheet had been mistakenly released “while performing routine updates” according to ICE.
The agency issued a statement saying, “Though unintentional, this release of information is a breach of policy and the agency is investigating the incident and taking all corrective actions necessary,”
The Los Angeles Times was the first to expose the leak, which ICE claimed it was informing detainees or their counsel of. They can then decide whether it affects the validity of their asylum petitions.
