DHS Watch was created in 2018 to uphold an immigration system that is competently administered, accountable, and adheres to long-held American values on immigration. DHS Watch shines a light on policies and administration that fail to adhere to basic principles of good governance.

Congress Begins Hearings on the Facts, Not the Falsehoods Amid a new NBC News report of children being sexually assaulted and retaliated against by border officials in immigration detention, the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee will hold a hearing today... Continue »
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan claimed that horrific detention conditions for children and adults described by the media at an El Paso border station were “unsubstantiated.”  And, last month McAleenan told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he is hearing only about minor... Continue »
This is What House Democrats Were Fighting to End in the Border Supplemental Funding Bill This Week At the same time that House Democrats were fighting to keep key provisions in a border funding bill to protect kids from deteriorating detention conditions, detained children, parents, doctors, and lawyers submitted... Continue »
With almost every single Democrat supporting and almost every single Republican opposing, the House of Representatives passed a funding bill to address the refugee and humanitarian crisis at the border last night on a vote of 230-195.  [The Republican- controlled Senate seems poised to reject this bill in a... Continue »
Definitive Evidence Undermining Trump Administration Claims that Families Must be Detained to Ensure Court Appearance Yesterday, Syracuse University’s TRAC released a report that shows that the overwhelming majority of asylum-seekers show up for their hearings. This finding debunks repeated claims made by the President and senior Homeland Security and... Continue »
UPDATE:  House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano (CA-41) and Rep. Juan Vargas (CA-51) sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demanding answers to the General Accountability Office’s (GAO) finding that ICE is deporting veterans in violation of policy. Families are Affected, Too Yesterday, the Military Times... Continue »
Today, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he is hearing only about minor detention condition issues and that “any issue that affects the safety of detainees is addressed immediately.” However, the facts suggest otherwise, according to nine reports by the DHS Inspector... Continue »
It’s Much More than Family Separation and the List is Growing It started early in the Trump administration and, at first, it appeared that harming children to achieve policy goals was just an idea that would never be implemented.  However, a leaked administration memo and a review of multiple... Continue »
On Friday, the Inspector General (IG) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a management alert requiring “immediate attention and action…to alleviate dangerous overcrowding at the El Paso Del Norte Processing Center (PDT).”  In unannounced visits to the PDT, the IG observed that DHS was housing 6 to... Continue »
“The facts show that since this administration began implementing its immigration and border policies, the challenge at the border went from bad to worse” – Ur Jaddou While reports last week suggest Congress may be close to an agreement on humanitarian assistance for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)... Continue »