You Don’t Need to Know

Full disclosure: FAIR filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request last summer seeking information about how the Obama administration plans to carry out its backdoor amnesty plan and evidence to back up the contention that they cannot enforce vast sections of our immigration law and other matters pertinent to their handling of U.S. immigration policy.

It took them about four months to get back to us. And when they finally did, it came in the form of a nicely worded letter that said, “We’re not telling.”

An article in Monday’s edition of Politico, “Obama’s muddy transparency record,” is both comforting and troubling. It’s comforting to know that we’re not alone. The Obama administration is in no hurry to provide information to anyone who disagrees with their policies. And, it’s troubling to know that we’re not alone. It doesn’t particularly matter what the issue is. If you disagree with their policies and want information the answer is the same for everyone: We’re not telling.

As Katherine Meyer, a Washington attorney who has been filing FOIA requests since 1978, puts it this way: “Obama is the sixth administration that’s been in office since I’ve been doing Freedom of Information Act work… It’s kind of shocking to me to say this, but of the six, this administration is the worst on FOIA issues. The worst. There’s just no question about it. This administration is raising one barrier after another. … It’s gotten to the point where I’m stunned — I’m really stunned.”

What is stunning is that they seem to be getting away with telling the American public, You don’t need to know.