U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported on Wednesday that for around five hours, the personal information of over 6,000 people 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, and 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.
Acer stated that “in some countries, people are targeted and subject to retaliation for seeking asylum.”
The agency removed the information from its public website 11 minutes after being notified that an Excel spreadsheet had been mistakenly posted “while performing routine updates,” according to ICE.
The agency issued a statement saying, “Though unintentional, this disclosure of the information is a breach of policy, and the agency is investigating the incident and taking all appropriate corrective actions.”
The Los Angeles Times was the first to report the leak, which ICE claimed it was informing detainees or their attorneys of. They can then decide whether it affects the validity of their asylum claims.
