Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas) says families are having growing difficulty locating and communicating with relatives held in immigration detention as the Department of Homeland Security remains without funding in its sixth week. Her concerns mirror those raised by other Democrats and immigration attorneys about reduced oversight and inconsistent agency responses during the lapse.
Johnson told NPR that numerous constituents have contacted her office unable to learn where relatives are held or to secure medical care for people in custody. She argued that political disputes over funding should not block congressional oversight or families’ ability to get information about loved ones.
Johnson pointed out that if Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues operational activities during a shutdown, Congress must still be able to reach the agency and obtain vital case information for constituents. To press that point, she made an unannounced visit this week to the Dallas ICE field office. She was permitted to enter, but her staff were not; her visit focused on the case of Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, an Afghan asylum seeker who had assisted U.S. forces and died less than a day after being taken into immigration custody. Last month Johnson also introduced legislation that would require DHS to keep communicating with congressional offices during funding lapses.
The White House and Republicans have largely blamed Democrats for the shutdown, and GOP lawmakers at a confirmation hearing for Sen. Markwayne Mullin argued the lapse is impeding certain programs even as immigration enforcement continues. Democrats have demanded policy changes to immigration enforcement before approving DHS funding, a standoff that has complicated oversight and access, Johnson and other critics say.
Attorneys and some lawmakers describe the shutdown’s effects across DHS as uneven and hard to track at the level of individual cases. Texas immigration attorney Marium Uddin said the current shutdown seems less obviously disruptive than the prior one, but oversight is not fully intact; impacts are patchy and often manifest as delays or confusing responses rather than outright denials of access. Even short interruptions in communication, she noted, can carry serious consequences for people in detention.
This is not the first time parts of DHS have been affected by a funding lapse. During last fall’s record-long shutdown, the department acknowledged its Office of Detention Oversight was not operating. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said about 100,000 DHS employees are furloughed during the current lapse, although which specific units are affected has not been clearly outlined.
DHS has not publicly confirmed whether internal oversight offices are functioning, including the already reduced Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman and the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) office. At the same time, immigration enforcement appears to be continuing in part because the agency has remaining appropriations tied to deportation and detention activities. Immigration courts, which are managed by the Department of Justice, are not affected by the DHS funding lapse.
Some members of Congress, such as Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), have been able to conduct unannounced inspections of detention facilities during this shutdown, a contrast with the prior lapse when lawmakers were blocked from visiting immigration-related sites. That earlier restriction was successfully challenged in court, and the administration is appealing. DHS has not published up-to-date guidance on congressional visits during funding gaps.
Beyond congressional access, attorneys say the shutdown has made it harder to reach clients in custody and to obtain timely agency responses on issues like temporary release. The most common problems are delays and a lack of clarity rather than outright refusals, but even those gaps can be consequential for detainees.
Concerns about oversight at DHS predate the current funding lapse. Former CRCL employees recently told Congress they believe the department produced a misleading fiscal year 2024 civil rights report, noting the latest report was far shorter and they say it underreported the number and scope of complaints and investigations compared with a much longer previous report. Those former staff, speaking anonymously, reported that material collected through late fiscal 2023 was omitted, including investigations and recommendations related to the ICE detainee locator, disaster relief program management, and the Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Bay.
DHS has disputed those allegations, saying it remains committed to civil rights protections while streamlining oversight work. A department spokesperson said past CRCL leadership obstructed enforcement and that the office inherited data integrity problems and an inadequate case management system. DHS added that new CRCL leadership is addressing those issues and that the recent report accurately reflects the office’s workload.
For families and lawyers trying to monitor individual cases, the combination of an ongoing funding lapse, unclear oversight status, and inconsistent agency communication has created a difficult environment. Lawmakers, attorneys and advocates say clearer guidance from DHS and uninterrupted channels for congressional and legal inquiries are critical so relatives can find detainees and receive necessary information and care.