Federal lawmakers slam Homeland Security for shutting down immigration watchdog offices

Verónica Egui Brito and Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald on Apr 8, 2025

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Dozens of Democratic federal lawmakers slammed the Department of Homeland Security for shuttering key agency watchdogs amid reports of overcrowding and civil rights violations of immigrant detainees at Florida's Krome Detention Center, among other facilities.

In a letter Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, 49 members of the House said the “closure of these offices raises serious questions about DHS’s transparency and compliance with the law.”

The lawmakers’ correspondence highlighted a Miami Herald investigation about detainees at Krome suffering overcrowding, guard-perpetrated mistreatment, and days-long confinement in small rooms with delayed access to medical care, showers, and legal counsel. The letter also comes as the Trump administration ramps up immigration arrests as part of its mass deportation efforts.

The lawmakers said they were outraged that Homeland Security had “effectively closed” several oversight offices on March 21, including the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman, the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

These offices are tasked with the oversight of different agencies under DHS, including investigating and responding to alleged human rights violations in immigration detention. DHS said on March 21 it was cutting jobs in those offices, according to several media outlets.

“We demand immediate action to restore oversight and halt the immoral mistreatment of detained individuals,” said the lawmakers, raising alarm that conditions at ICE detention centers would worsen as the Trump administration moves to end the protections of immigrants under the Biden-era parole programs and the Temporary Protected Status designations for Venezuela and Haiti.

The Trump administration the measures were taken to cut red tape.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told NPR that said the reason for shutting down the offices was because they have obstructed immigration enforcement by “adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining the mission,” and that ”rather than supporting law enforcement efforts, they often function as internal adversaries that slow down operations.”

The letters asked Homeland Security to clarify why it had shut down the offices, under what authority, and where the funds that paid for those operations would be redirected. It also inquired how DHS would address overcrowding and mistreatment at Krome, as well as ensure detainees’ access to family and lawyers. An ICE spokesperson previously told the Herald the agency is aware of overcrowding at some facilities and is taking steps to address it.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston spearheaded the letter. Florida U.S Reps. Darren Soto, Maxwell Frost, Frederica Wilson, Kathy Castor and Shiela Cherfilus-McCormick were also among those who signed.

Last week, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava asked the Trump adminmistration for a tour of the Krome detention center following the Herald report on the conditions. On Monday, Rep. Wilson also separately penned a letter requesting to visit the facility in April to “assess the detainee’s living conditions,” invoking her constitutional oversight authority.

“I fully support lawful detention and the enforcement of the law,” Wilson wrote. “However, this is balanced by the need to ensure that people who are in government custody are not treated inhumanely, no matter the circumstance.”