The Trump administration shut down the only independent office responsible for investigating abuse, misconduct, and complaints at ICE detention facilities. The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO) is gone. Its website is down, inspections have halted, and staff are removing the signs from the walls.
Trump signed OIDO into existence himself in 2020. Congress created it specifically because of rampant abuse in ICE detention during his first term deaths in custody, family separation, medical neglect, sexual abuse. The office was supposed to be a permanent, independent check on the system.
Now it’s closed. DHS is blaming Congress, claiming the recent appropriations bill didn’t fund it. That is a lie. Congress passed no law repealing OIDO, and the administration had other tools to keep it funded. The closure is completely unlawful.
The timing is not subtle. At least 31 people died in ICE detention last year, the highest number since 2004. At least 18 more have died already in 2026. The detention population has grown by 75% since January 2025, with more than 66,000 people currently held.
The administration just got $45 billion from Congress to expand the system even further. They’re eliminating oversight as the system explodes in size.
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