The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is standing by its plan to close its San Bruno facility, home of the National Archives at San Francisco, and says the facility's immigration records will be moved to its operations in Kansas City.
What the agency said
In an Oct. 5 letter to Bay Area members of Congress, NARA's chief operating officer wrote that a two-to-three-year move timeline is "adequate" to protect the records, noting the agency has closed five other locations since 2022 without incident. The letter says Kansas City, where NARA runs five facilities and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services keeps its own national records center, already has the agency's largest concentration of immigration holdings.
NARA's researcher updates page says all archival records now in San Bruno will stay accessible and will be available at their new locations once each move is finished. The records are being split among several NARA sites, not only Kansas City. The agency announced the San Bruno and Chicago closures in June, citing underused space as the federal government shifts to electronic recordkeeping.
Why critics object
The San Bruno facility holds immigration, naval, geological and tribal records going back to the 1850s, covering California, Nevada, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and former Pacific trust territories. It includes files tied to Angel Island and the Chinese Exclusion Act, along with the original case file of United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the 1898 birthright citizenship case, according to Sen. Adam Schiff's office.
In an Aug. 19 letter, Rep. Kevin Mullin, Rep. Judy Chu and other lawmakers wrote that the site sees about 500 in-person researchers a year and answers nearly 2,000 written requests. They argued that more than 100,000 cubic feet of permanent records could not be moved carefully in two to three years, and asked about the fate of current staff.
What comes next
Senators Schiff, Alex Padilla, Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth have introduced a bill that would require congressional approval before NARA closes or significantly restricts access to a regional facility. NARA has also scheduled virtual consultations with tribal leaders on Oct. 13 and 15, according to ICT News. No specific closing date for San Bruno has been announced.