The Trump administration has dismantled key oversight mechanisms within the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), prompting serious warnings from legal experts and civil rights advocates. This systematic gutting of federal watchdog offices could enable widespread civil rights violations, particularly in immigration detention centers, according to whistleblowers and legal filings.

A group of former DHS oversight officials filed a whistleblower complaint to US Congress, claiming that the administration has removed crucial accountability structures that previously monitored abuse in the expanding immigration detention system.

“They want to be able to abuse people with impunity,” said Anthony Enriquez, vice-president of US advocacy and litigation at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, which is supporting the lawsuit against the government.

Read more: Pentagon strategy prioritizes homeland over confronting China

Lawsuits and Whistleblower Action in Congress

Backed by the Government Accountability Project (GAP), the whistleblowers allege that mass firings within the DHS eliminated nearly all staff responsible for investigating abuse allegations. Human rights organizations have taken legal action, demanding the reinstatement of employees removed from the DHS’s oversight offices.

Dana Gold of the GAP stated, “Without a robust oversight system, there’s just a blank check for impunity.”

The reduction has left only nine individuals working at the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL), a DHS body originally staffed with 150 people. According to whistleblower documents reviewed by the Guardian, this comes despite more than 500 active investigations into potential civil rights violations by DHS officials and contractors.

Read more: White House launches webpage to denounce journalists, news outlets

Allegations of Abuse in Immigration Detention

The dismissed CRCL team had been handling numerous high-profile cases of mistreatment in immigration detention centers. These include:

An incident in Arizona where Border Patrol agents allegedly forcibly removed a detained man, handcuffed him, and injected him with ketamine.

• A 2024 mass pepper-spraying at a Louisiana facility during a hunger strike, followed by power and water being cut off, as well as denial of medical care.
• Abuse of a mentally ill woman in a Florida jail, who was stripped, restrained, and mocked by male guards, resulting in visible injuries.
• The alleged targeting of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist, for his political views during an ICE arrest.

The CRCL had opened investigations into these cases before the March layoffs. Their current status is unknown, and DHS has not responded to media inquiries about them.

Read more: US Border Patrol chief under fire over false claims in Chicago raids

DHS Defends Staff Cuts, Faces Scrutiny from Lawmakers

In response to media reports, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the DHS, defended the staff reductions, claiming all legally required CRCL functions are still being performed “in an efficient and cost-effective manner.”

McLaughlin argued that CRCL had previously obstructed DHS operations and functioned as “internal adversaries.” The DHS maintains that CRCL and the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO) continue to inspect facilities and investigate complaints.

However, a former CRCL official said the cuts reflect a deliberate disregard for immigrant rights: “They don’t care about civil rights concerns. That’s why they fired us all.”

Oversight collapse raises alarm over DHS practices

In total, nearly every employee across the three main DHS oversight offices, CRCL, OIDO, and the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman, was dismissed. A top DHS official declared that 147 were cut from CRCL, 118 from OIDO, and 46 from CIS.

Though the DHS claimed in court that it merely “refocused” operations, former officials argue that these measures have halted most internal investigations and left immigration detention centers without proper oversight.

Sophia Genovese, an immigration attorney and professor at Georgetown University, noted that she has submitted over 100 complaints to CRCL and sees little evidence they are being investigated. “Nine people can’t cover a detention center, much less an entire country,” she said.

Read more: US pressuring allies to restrict immigration: NYT

Growing concerns over civil rights violations

Advocates report an uptick in cases involving threats of physical violence, coercion, and denial of due process in immigration detention, as the Trump administration ramps up enforcement efforts.

“I’m getting referrals every day from people who have family members who are picked up, detained, and are being coerced into signing deportation orders,” Genovese said.

While CRCL was always limited in its ability to mandate reforms, Enriquez of RFK Human Rights emphasized that even a weak oversight mechanism was preferable to none. “A true solution to this problem is going to look like a massive reduction in the use of immigration detention,” he said.

Lack of Transparency and Public Access to Information

Public records that once detailed CRCL investigations were removed from the DHS website in February. These included vital data that attorneys and journalists had used to track abuse cases. The Project on Government Oversight has since republished many of the deleted files.

Gold warned that without functioning oversight bodies, “there’s just a blank check for impunity.” According to internal data, CRCL received over 3,000 complaints in 2023 and investigated only 25%, a rate now likely to fall even further.

With DHS inspections suspended or significantly reduced, former officials and advocates fear for the safety of detained immigrants, warning that unchecked operations may lead to even more civil rights violations.

Read more: Trump's deportation surge fuels private detention boom