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Greetings,
I am trying to cite to an immigration hearing transcript that was in an Alien Case File obtained via the Freedom of Information Act.
Going off the Third Edition, the closest thing I could find akin to this document would be 3.32. Admittedly, this was an administrative proceeding transcript and not an interview, but the citation I came up with looked like this:
Elias Kokos (Buffalo, New York), hearing before Gordon W. Sacks, April 19, 1977; transcript by Camille Coleman; Alien Case File no. 20580936, Elias Kokos; selected and partially redacted documents from “A-Files____ to ____,” supplied to author, March 26, 2020, by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services National Records Center, FOIA/PA Office, Lee’s Summit MO, in response to FOIA request.
Would this be the most effective means to cite this (using “hearing before” in place of “interview”)? I am also unclear how to properly attribute the transcriber.
As always, I appreciate any help!
SlovakDennis, for the…
SlovakDennis, for the benefit of others reading this Q&A: In a sense, a government deposition or a transcript of a hearing before a government agency is similar to an interview in the sense that someone is asking questions and someone is answering them. But, the most important consideration here is that you are citing an official government file created by a government agency, not a personal interview of Jane Whozit by John Whazzitname. Rather than EE3's chapter on Archives and Artifacts, it would be better to look to its chapter on National Government Records.
In this case, you are partially following the pattern we worked out last year for a different FOIA request of national government records. (https://www.evidenceexplained.com/node/2269). That, too, was a USCIS file.
John Smith, “Statement of Facts for Preparation of Petition,” 23 March 1952; Alien Case File no. A-1234567, John Smith; selected and partially redacted documents from "A-Files, April 1, 1944 to May 1, 1951," supplied to [name and address for private use), 22 May 2019, by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services National Records Center, FOIA/PA Office, Lee’s Summit MO, in response to FOIA request.
Turning to the EE section for personal interviews leads your suggested citation for Elias Kokos into a wrong direction.
The name of the court clerk who transcribed the hearing as part of her job is not essential to the citation. (As a corollary, when we cite an officially recorded deed from a county courthouse, we don't cite the name of the county clerk who copied the original deed into the register.) The more important details that are missing from your Elias Kokos citation would be (a) the identity of Gordon W. Sacks, whose role is not mentioned; and (b) the location of the court in which Kokos appeared before this immigration judge.
EE's approach would be this:
Elias Kokos (Buffalo, New York), hearing before Gordon W. Sacks, Immigration Judge, Buffalo New York, April 19, 1977;
transcript by Camille Coleman;Alien Case File no. 20580936, Elias Kokos; selected and partially redacted documents from “A-Files____ to ____ [fill in blanks],” supplied to author, March 26, 2020, by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services National Records Center, FOIA/PA Office, Lee’s Summit MO, in response to FOIA request.