On May 23, The Trump administration effectively shut down three watchdog organizations at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with the employees being “abruptly suspended” and “given a separation date:” the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CISOMB), and the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO).
The elimination of these oversight groups is further evidenced by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s budget request, which includes giving no money to OIDO.
Although the DHS has claimed that it is merely reforming department oversight, it is doing so in a halfhearted manner, at best.
In his declaration, Sartini described the offices as “not the model of efficiency,” citing mismanagement and overlapping responsibilities. But just before his testimony, DHS reassigned his deputy — apparently without his knowledge — leaving him as the only employee assigned to CISOMB, CRCL, and OIDO.
CNN Politics
The acting officer for CRCL is none other than Troup Hemenway, a former Heritage Foundation Project 2025 leader. While he has promised fundamental reform to DHS oversight, with each office having sufficient staff numbers, himself and Sartini are among the only employees in CISOMB, CRCL, and OIDO. Although he says that suspending the previous employees that once filled those offices was a “short-term” fix, this appears to be a cynical attempt to sugarcoat Project 2025’s goal to eliminate those three oversight bodies. In official documents, the DHS has also expressed a desire to eliminate the offices “in their entirety.”
Hemenway plans to have eight to ten employees for OIDO. According to OIDO’s former leader, Michelle Brané, this number is not enough, especially as the number of detainees is rising. She has also suggested that over twelve people could have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody this year. While DHS oversight is in a shambolic state, detainees may be running out of time to receive proper care.
