Tag: Oversight

The Trump Administration’s Mistreatment of Detained Immigrants: Deaths and Deficient Medical Care by For-Profit Detention Contractors

September 24, 2020

Published by the House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on September 24, 2020.

A 14-month investigation by House committee staff finds poor conditions and urgent health risks for migrants in ICE’s network of privatized detention centers. (Link at oversight.house.gov)

Tags: Congress, Detention, ICE, Organizational Culture, Oversight, Public Health

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Compliance with Use of Force Policy for Incidents on November 25, 2018 and January 1, 2019

August 24, 2020

Published by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector-General on August 24, 2020.

Examines two incidents of cross-border use of tear gas and other crowd control measures during the arrival of a “migrant caravan” in Tijuana, and finds only minor wrongdoing. (Link at oig.dhs.gov)

Tags: Border Patrol, CBP, Crowd Control, Oversight, San Diego, Use of Force

Evaluation of the United States Military Support of Department of Homeland Security Southern Border Security Operations Under Title 10 Authority

August 18, 2020

Published by the Department of Defense Inspector-General on August 18, 2020.

A detailed look at the funding, management, and legal authority for the Trump administration’s deployments of military personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border. (Link at dodig.mil)

Tags: Budget, Civil-Military Relations, Military Deployments, Oversight

7 Humane, Effective Border and Migration Measures in the House’s 2021 Homeland Security Appropriation

July 27, 2020

Published by the Washington Office on Latin America on July 27, 2020.

An overview of key measures in the House of Representatives’ version of the 2021 DHS appropriation, including cutting border wall spending, defunding “Remain in Mexico,” reducing ICE detention, and others.

Tags: Border Patrol, Budget, CBP, Detention, Fencing, ICE, Legislation, Oversight, Processing, Remain in Mexico

June 5, 2020

June 5, 2020
  • The Project on Government Oversight publishes an analysis of the Trump administration’s conduct in pursuit of the border wall since 2017. It tracks the waiving of vital laws that protect taxpayers, the environment, and indigenous groups, and how continued construction during the pandemic places workers, families, and border town residents at risk.

Tags: Environment, Fencing, Indigenous Communities, Oversight, Public Health

February 19, 2020

February 19, 2020
  • U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, threatens to subpoena CBP for failing to provide proof of significant discipline for the employees found to be a part of the inappropriate, private Facebook group discovered in July of 2019. Rep. Maloney states that CBP has declined to produce any information about the punishments and has not been available for interview. While CBP revealed at least 62 current employees were involved, a recent report shows that the agency converted many of the recommended 30-day suspensions without pay into letters of reprimand. Overall, only 3 officers have been fired.

Tags: Organizational Culture, Oversight

January 31, 2020

January 31, 2020
  • In an internal memo, CBP’s Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan announces the designation of CBP as a “Security Agency,” with the same highly secretive intelligence and law enforcement classifications as the FBI and Secret Service. Irvin McCullough, a national security analyst with the Government Accountability Project, tells The Nation that this designation will result in less transparency, as it grants CBP more liberty to exempt certain records from public disclosure. 

Tags: CBP, Organizational Culture, Oversight