DHS blames funding lapse for shutdown of internal detention oversight : NPR

The internal Department of Homeland Security office that oversees detention facilities and conditions is winding down its operations — even as the administration places more people in detention, and for longer stints.

Congress created the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO) in 2019 to investigate detainee deaths, detainee access to medical care, and employee misconduct, among other issues.

In a statement to NPR, DHS said the office shut down because of the current funding lapse in Congress targeting immigration enforcement.

Congress last week finally ended the longest agency shutdown in U.S. history, agreeing to fund most parts of DHS — but excluding some immigration enforcement functions.

“DHS did not shut down the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman—Congress did,” DHS said in a statement to NPR. “The House passed the DHS appropriations bill without objection, and it was signed into law last week.”

DHS has already archived several pages on its website regarding OIDO.

But the measure passed by Congress and signed by President Trump to fund most parts of DHS did not mandate the closing of the office.

Republicans are separately looking at a partisan process known as reconciliation to fund all of DHS, including ICE and Border Patrol, for the remainder of Trump’s term without any Democratic support. It is not clear if OIDO would reopen if ICE and Border Patrol are funded.

Even before the shutdown, the Trump administration had been stripping down the office’s functions and laying off staff in civil rights areas. That comes as the number of people who have died in immigration custody has reached an all-time high for the fiscal year.

DHS officials have argued the rising death count is due to the higher number of people in custody.

Immigration advocates say that oversight is particularly needed to prevent abuses and deaths. And they say the funding lapse shouldn’t have affected the ombudsman’s office since it’s separate from ICE and Customs and Border Protection.

“Congress established OIDO to address the systematic record of abuse and medical mistreatment people have suffered in immigration detention,” said Jennifer Ibañez Whitlock, senior policy council at the National Immigration Law Center, a legal advocacy group.

“Congress was clear that this office was established to be independent from ICE and CBP and to provide redress to people in detention when DHS officials or contractors engaged in misconduct or violated their rights.”

The Trump administration had earlier cut hundreds of staff in some congressionally mandated oversight offices, including OIDO, in order to save money and because DHS argued they were “internal adversaries that slow down operations.”

In fact, OIDO only had five employees at the start of the year — down from over 100 at the start of 2025. Ronald Sartini, acting deputy immigration detention ombudsman for OIDO, shared those figures in a declaration filed in court.

Democrats say such internal oversight is particularly needed to prevent overcrowding in detention facilities, and delays in reporting detention deaths — especially during agency shutdowns. During the government shutdown in fall of last year, DHS said that immigration oversight officers were not working.

OIDO had reviewed every report on deaths in custody and inspected detention facilities. Without it, ICE detention violations could go unreported and unresolved as offices, former employees have warned.

The closing of the office comes as the administration continues to scale up its detention capacity, and also implemented a policy that mandates the detention of anyone who entered the country illegally while they fight their deportation in court.

The policy has resulted in cases of prolonged detention: In the last six months, for example, the number of people who have been in ICE detention for more than a year has nearly doubled, to over 2,100 people.