#dhs-oversight

#dhs-oversight

"CISA was more focused on censorship than on protecting the Nation's critical systems, and put them at risk due to poor management and inefficiency, as well as a focus on self-promotion."

Civil liberties experts warn the expanding use of those systems risks sweeping up citizens and noncitizens alike, often with little transparency or meaningful oversight. Over the past year, Homeland Security and other federal agencies have dramatically expanded their ability to collect, share and analyze people's personal data, thanks to a web of agreements with local, state, federal and international agencies, plus contracts with technology companies and data brokers.

Of the 15 officers who died in the line of duty while working for Enforcement and Removal Operations, the ICE branch charged with detaining unauthorized migrants within the interior of the US, all but two died of Covid. One deportation officer, Brian Beliso, died of a heart attack in 2020 during a foot chase. The other deportation officer to die of something other than Covid, Lorenzo Roberto Gomez, experienced heat stress during a training exercise in El Paso, Texas, leading to hospitalization.

Thao was detained so abruptly that the agents whisked him away in his underwear despite the frigid winter weather, sparking outrage from social media users who watched viral footage of the incident. Thao said the agents drove him to the middle of nowhere before making him exit the vehicle to take additional photos. Not long after, they discovered he was a U.S. citizen with no criminal record. He was returned after approximately an hour.

Sensitive details of around 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol employees-including almost 2,000 agents working in frontline enforcement-have allegedly been released by a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower following last week's fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good. The Jan. 7 killing of the mother by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has sparked nationwide protests and worldwide outrage, including among some DHS employees.