DHS Permanently Closes Immigration Detention Ombudsman Office Amid Record In-Custody Deaths

The Department of Homeland Security is permanently shutting down the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, which investigated detainee deaths, medical-care complaints, and other abuses inside the federal immigration detention system. DHS blamed the lapse of appropriations, although the bill that ended the long DHS shutdown did not mandate the office’s closure. The wind-down comes as at least 18 people have died in ICE custody through the first four months of 2026, following 31 deaths in 2025 — a two-decade high — even as detention populations and length-of-stay have grown sharply.