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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 236 / Monday, December 13, 2021 / Rules and Regulations keep data regarding what methods e.g., Federal Express FedEx, United States Postal Service USPS, hand delivery by an attorneys office or a pro Expected cost 5
Year savings se party, or local courier are used to file paper documents with EOIR and to 10
511,678
serve those filings on the opposing Total
2,757,920 party, anecdotal evidence points to filings with the immigration courts and the BIA and service on the opposing The public may also see the added party typically being sent using FedEx qualitative benefit of more expeditious FOIA compliance, as OGC will not have or courier to ensure filings are timely.
This is particularly true for filings with to wait for records to be shipped the BIA, because the filer must ensure between locations to satisfy FOIA
actual receipt by the BIA in Falls requests and will instead be able to Church, Virginia, no later than the close search and access the records of business of the clerks office on the electronically.
established deadline.
e. The Public To analyze the public cost savings associated with electronic filing, EOIR
The benefits to the public are high as considered the average costs of sending well. Parties will be able to file filings through FedEx and USPS, the documents at any time of day from any location with internet, thereby reducing hourly rates for couriers and postage costs and the need to physically immigration attorneys, and the time savings from avoiding use of the appear at an immigration court during immigration courts intra-office mailing business hours. For many parties, this systems. Based on these preliminary will be a substantial benefit, as the nearest immigration court may be hours estimates and filings from the previous year, if filers used FedEx for one-third away. The parties will also be able to view the eROP electronically, providing of filings and used USPS for two-thirds of filings, electronic filing would have instant access to necessary documents saved filers $38,780.64 in FedEx and and eliminating the need to appear at the immigration court to view the paper USPS costs in the five pilot courts in FY
2018.8 This is compared to a cost of record. Further, parties will save on $1,958,898.28 in FedEx costs 9 and paper and toner costs required to print $2,772,594.49 in USPS filing costs 10
copies of filings, and costs associated assuming one-third filings via FedEx with required process service.
and two-thirds filings via USPS in the The Department believes that the other 55 courts. These estimates are biggest savings to the parties before based on an $18.85 average FedEx filing EOIR will be from reduced costs rate $8.57 average Express Saver cost +
associated with mailing or hand$20.03 average second day cost + $27.97
delivering filings that would have been incurred without the implementation of overnight cost, divided by three and a $13.34 average USPS filing rate $7.75
electronic filing. In FY 2018, EOIRs average priority mail + $28.59 average immigration courts received 311,761
priority mail express + $3.68 first-class paper filings and 2,555 electronic parcel, divided by three. The filings,6 and the BIA received 49,522
Department notes that this savings is 7
paper filings. While EOIR does not likely an underestimate due to the tendency for many filers to use next-day 5 FOIA volume is estimated at 50,000 per year, an service.
approximation based on EOIRs FY 2018 FOIA
volume.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor 6 These numbers represent the paper and Statistics, the mean hourly wage for electronic filing of initial Forms I862, Notice to couriers, such as those individuals law Appear, and I863, Notice of Referral to the firms may hire to deliver documents to Immigration Judge, by DHS at the immigration the immigration court, is $14.13. U.S.
courts nationwide for the fiscal year. EOIR does not have data regarding the number of paper vs.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational electronic filings directly by respondents in Employment Statistics: Occupational
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TABLE 6OGC COST SAVINGS
Continued
proceedings or their representatives, such as the relative number of paper vs. electronically filed motions, applications for relief or protection, or evidence packets. Accordingly, this analysis uses the number of electronic and paper filings by DHS
as a proxy for those by the respondents and their representatives since EOIR does not have similar data for that population but would expect the percentage of paper and electronic to be the same for both.
7 See EOIR, Statistics Yearbook: Fiscal Year 2018, Aug. 30, 2019, available at https www.justice.gov/

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eoir/file/1198896/download. As with the immigration courts, the Department uses the number of cases filed at the BIA as a proxy for the number of filings at the BIA because the Department does not have specific data regarding the number of individual filings by the parties.
8 852 filings $18.85 average FedEx cost + 1,703
filings $13.34 average USPS cost.
9 103,920 filings $18.85 average FedEx cost.
10 207,841 filings $13.34 average USPS cost.

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Employment and Wages, May 2018: 43
5021 Couriers and Messengers, available at https www.bls.gov/oes/2018/may/
oes435021.htm last visited Aug. 28, 2021.11 Further, if an attorney makes the trip to the immigration court or to the BIA to handle the filing, the average cost would be $66.54 for one hour of work.12 Assuming that approximately one-quarter of paper filings are handled via a courier, one-quarter of paper filings are handled via an attorney,13
and one-half are filed using USPS or FedEx, with two-thirds of those via USPS and one-third via FedEx, the cost savings to the public of eFiling in the five pilot courts was approximately $70,916.15 $8,026.96 for FedEx 14 +
$11,361.23 for USPS 15 + $42,502.43 for the attorneys 16 + $9,025.54 for the couriers 17.
Overall, the Departments estimates predict an annual savings to the public from electronic filing before the immigration courts and the BIA of approximately $10,100,142.88
$70,916.15/2,555 filings = $27.76;
$27.76 311,761 + 2,555 + 49,522 =
363,838 total filings. Over the course of 10 years, these savings would equal $101,001,428.80 if the annual number of filings remains constant. The Department, however, expects that the true savings will be higher as EOIR hires additional immigration judges and opens additional immigration courts, expanding the annual case processing capacity. See, e.g., EOIR, Adjudication Statistics: New Cases and Total Completions, July 8, 2021, available at https www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/
1060841/download showing that initial case completions increased from 195,127 in FY 2018 to 276,984 in FY
2019. Further, additional savings are expected based on gas and tolls, paper, toner, and other office supplies.

11 $14.72 in May 2018 is equivalent to $14.13 in December 2016.
12 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics: Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2018: 231011 Lawyers, available at https www.bls.gov/oes/2018/may/
oes231011.htm last visited Mar. 1, 2021 stating the mean hourly wage in May 2018 was $69.34.
$69.34 in May 2018 is equivalent to $66.54 in December 2016.
13 This calculation further assumes that the filings would require one hour of time by the attorney or courier.
14 426 filings $18.85 average FedEx cost.
15 852 filings $13.34 average USPS cost.
16 639 filings $66.54 mean hourly attorney wage.
17 639 filings $14.13 mean hourly courier wage.

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