Groups Sue Secretary Noem, DHS for Shuttering of Civil Rights Offices

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Southern Border Communities Coalition, and Urban Justice Center – represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group and Democracy Forward – filed a lawsuit today against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to challenge the Trump administration’s decision last month to close DHS’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman Office, and Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman. The lawsuit is demanding the restoration of these key DHS oversight offices.

In March, the Trump administration directed employees to immediately cease doing their jobs, including any efforts to wind down operations or transfer any complaints or ongoing investigations to other departments. According to a DHS spokesperson at the time, the offices were closed because they “obstructed immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining DHS’s mission.”

Congress created the three offices to protect the privacy interests and civil rights of individuals, and to report to Congress and the public about the complaints that the offices received and resolved.

The Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Office was established by Congress to investigate complaints involving constitutional rights, such as privacy invasions or excessive force used by Border Patrol agents, or facial recognition technology used at airports. The CIS Ombudsman’s Office helps immigrants who have problems obtaining work permits or applying for green cards. And the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman monitors conditions in detention facilities and handles complaints involving excessive force, sexual abuse, and inadequate medical care, among other issues.

“Eliminating these three offices both undermines the ability of individuals to rein in the overreach of DHS, and violates the constitutional principle of separation of powers, flouting Congress’s express determination that these offices must exist,” said Karla Gilbride, deputy director of Public Citizen Litigation Group and lead counsel on the case. “The Department of Homeland Security is required by law to review and assess information alleging abuses of civil rights and civil liberties. The decision to shutter these offices is an illegal attempt to undermine key civil rights protections and remove vital accountability mechanisms within DHS at a time when they are sorely needed.”

“The decimation of these offices does not make anyone’s lives better or safer – what it does is target the innocent and those who have been placed in vulnerable circumstances. The closure of these offices is part of the Trump administration’s targeting of immigrants in this country and weakening of protections and resources afforded to them,” said Skye Perryman, President & CEO of Democracy Forward. “We will continue to use every legal tool we have to protect people and our democracy.”

"RFK Human Rights has filed complaints with CRCL and OIDO for hundreds of people abused in immigration detention centers across the country, urging investigations into systemic sexual abuse, medical neglect, and deliberate infliction of severe pain amounting to torture,” said Anthony Enriquez, VP of U.S. Advocacy and Litigation, RFK Human Rights. “Congress created and funded oversight agencies to prevent these abuses and no president has the power to single-handedly rewrite those laws."

“Border communities have been calling for real accountability as we endure racial profiling, excessive use of force, arbitrary searches and other abuses by border agents, and the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties was one of the few paths for us to seek justice for these gross violations of human rights,” said Lilian Serrano, Director of Southern Border Communities Coalition. “Shutting down these oversight offices within DHS is a blatant attempt by the Trump Administration to shield the department, including CBP—the nation’s largest law enforcement agency—from accountability. The administration cannot erase accountability by dismantling an office Congress created to protect our rights.”

"By gutting and closing these offices, the administration has effectively placed survivors of domestic violence in an untenably dangerous position,” said Alessandra Rosales, supervising attorney of immigration law at Urban Justice Center. “The humanitarian remedies created by Congress for immigrant survivors are a crucial tool in their healing and rebuilding. Removing the mechanism for oversight and enforcement of these legal protections will permit agencies to violate with impunity the civil rights of vulnerable people who have already endured unspeakable trauma and tragedy."

The full complaint can be found here. For additional information on the case, or to request an interview with the litigation team or our plaintiffs, contact Patrick Davis, pdavis@citizen.org.