DHS Clears Civil Rights Office, Saying Watchdogs Obstructed

Nearly the entire staff of the civil rights office in the Department of Homeland Security, which has oversight of the Trump administration's immigration enforcement, was fired on Friday. Two other watchdog agencies in DHS that look into complaints and advocate for immigrants also essentially were shut down, the Washington Post reports. "These offices have obstructed immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining DHS' mission," a department spokesperson said, per the New York Times. "Rather than supporting law enforcement efforts, they often function as internal adversaries that slow down operations."

The agency said the move was a reduction in force. The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman together account for 300 of the 260,000 employees at DHS. Responsibilities of the latter office, for example, include helping employers with issues they encounter with US Citizenship and Immigration Services, per CBS News. The spokesperson said DHS remains committed to civil rights protections despite the firings. Some of the employees were told they'll be out in May if they don't find another job in the administration before that.

Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee posted on social media that the Trump administration is "eliminating another office that could expose their illegal and unconstitutional actions." Deborah Fleischaker, who worked in the civil rights office and as chief of staff of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Biden administration, said the office tried to make "the DHS mission work with respect for civil rights, civil liberties and privacy." She added, per the Times, "This is a clear message that those things do not matter to this administration." (More Trump administration stories.)