Weakened standards after DHS oversight offices have been scaled back or eliminated, analysis finds

The Trump administration has shuttered or dramatically scaled back several Homeland Security oversight offices. Now, a new analysis from POGO Investigates — the investigative wing of the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight — finds weakened standards and other issues at one of the last ones.

The analysis looks at the Office of Detention Oversight, a sub-agency of ICE that conducts congressionally mandated visits to detention sites to report on violations and rate conditions inside.

René Kladzyk, a senior investigator with POGO Investigates and a co-author of the analysis, says detention facilities receive good ratings — despite complaints from detainees, and as a record number of deaths in detention.

“If you look solely at the data about ICE detention inspections, it would appear that conditions inside ICE detention have improved dramatically,” she said.

Thirty four people have died in ICE detention so far this fiscal year, which began in October — the highest toll in 22 years.

Kladzyk’s analysis uses publicly available Office of Detention Oversight inspection reports and finds the proportion of facilities that received a “Superior” rating has nearly tripled between the 2024 fiscal year and July of this year.

Facilities receiving that rating fell by more than 60% between 2022 and 2024, according to the analysis. The number of violations reported by the office has also declined — dropping by nearly 70% between the 2022 and 2025 fiscal years.

“ICE is writing its own standards, and then ICE is evaluating whether they follow their own standards, and then ICE is not giving itself failing grades basically,” Kladzyk said.

A DHS spokesperson said all ICE detainees are given medical, dental and mental health intake screenings within 12 hours, a full health assessment within 14 days of being detained, and are not denied emergency care.

The agency did not answer questions about the number of people on staff at the Office of Detention Oversight, the number of required inspections, or under what conditions a facility would receive a failing grade from the office.