Each of our Freedom of Information Act requests was for records likely to exist, and any single “no records” response would have been suspicious. But four in rapid succession is enough to cast doubt on Homeland Security’s record-keeping practices and its compliance with the Freedom of Information Act.

These are the records we asked for and DHS claims it simply doesn’t have.

All emails sent or received by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem containing the terms “CNN” and “ICEBlock”

DHS responded on December 11 it couldn’t find any records about this attempt to intimidate the press from reporting on ICE. This dubious claim came even though Noem said publicly this summer that she was in communication with Attorney General Pam Bondi about prosecuting CNN for reporting on ICEBlock, a crowdsourced application that tracks ICE sightings.

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The complete archive of Noem’s Truth Social direct messages for her official account, @SecNoem

Again, DHS told us on December 9 it didn’t have any records to share. DHS said this even though it is well known that Trump communicates with administration officials through private messages on the social media platform, as his DM-heard-around-the-world to Bondi made clear.

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All body camera footage from ICE captured as part of Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago

Yet again, ICE said on December 9 it didn’t have any records of its Chicago immigration enforcement operation to share with us, even though U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis ordered in October that ICE and other immigration agents wear body cameras and turn them on.

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The request the Secret Service made to the Army Corps of Engineers to raise the water level of an Ohio river to ensure JD Vance had a nice kayaking trip

The Secret Service said on December 10 it had no relevant documents, even though the agency publicly acknowledged in August that it had coordinated with the Army Corps of Engineers about Vice President JD Vance’s trip, and geological reports showed a change in the water level coinciding with the Vance family’s vacation.