Former DHS immigration detention ombudsman: “I think we’ll see people die in custody as a result.”
Homeland Security is eliminating those employees whose job is to keep them operating honestly and legally:
In a move aimed at reducing “roadblocks” to its immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has fired most employees within the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and two separate DHS ombudsman offices, a senior DHS official confirmed late Friday.
The actions come amid other changes at DHS that critics say will curtail oversight of immigration efforts by President Donald Trump even as legal challenges intensify over their constitutionality.
A senior DHS official told USA TODAY that the RIF or “reduction in force” efforts were done “to eliminate redundant and counterproductive roles while reallocating resources to frontline enforcement, where they are most effective.”
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Michelle Brané, who served in the Biden administration as the immigration detention ombudsman within DHS, called the cuts a “recipe for disaster.”
Brané said she believes roughly 200 people lost their jobs in what she called “Black Friday” cuts.
“They’re eliminating all the oversight bodies within the Department of Homeland Security at a time when they are being more aggressive than ever and making more mistakes than ever,” Brané said. “I think we’ll see people die in custody as a result.”
Trump slashes homeland security civil rights jobs in ‘Black Friday’ cuts
A senior Homeland Security official says the offices established to protect against abuse were cut because they are “roadblocks’ to enforcement.
Trump slashes homeland security civil rights jobs in ‘Black Friday’ cuts
