Overview
- The Department of Homeland Security is closing the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, which reviewed complaints about ICE and CBP detention, and an internal email says inspections are stopping and the public website is offline.
- DHS says Congress forced the shutdown through this year’s funding bill, while reporters note the law did not require closing the office that Congress created.
- By December, the office had been pared to five workers after sweeping cuts to DHS oversight units, according to a Washington Office on Latin America analysis.
- Use-of-force incidents in ICE detention jumped 37% year over year, with 1,330 people subjected to physical force or chemical agents since President Trump returned to the White House, The Washington Post found.
- ICE is holding roughly 70,000 people on a typical day, hit 73,000 at a recent peak, and reported at least 18 deaths this year after 30 in 2025, as the agency tells Congress it plans capacity for about 99,000 beds.