Weekly Spotlight: Gutting Oversight While Ramping up Abuse
Over the past few weeks, we’ve witnessed a chilling escalation in federal law enforcement abuse, including the ambush arrest and detention of students for engaging in lawful protests
Join our fight for a more effective and accountable government. Sign up for our Weekly Spotlight newsletter and occasional updates on POGO’s work.
Editor’s note: Weekly Spotlight is off next week. We will be back in your inbox on April 12.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve witnessed a chilling escalation in federal law enforcement abuse, including the ambush arrest and detention of students for engaging in lawful protests. All of this is taking place while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has effectively gutted three watchdog agencies tasked with investigating allegations of abuse and rights violations.
DHS houses multiple federal law enforcement agencies, making it the largest police cohort in the country. Among the department’s problematic agencies is Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which has a long history of civil and human rights abuses. CBP’s overbroad authority puts anyone who falls within its jurisdiction — an area that goes well beyond just the borders — at risk of abuse by the agency. Issues run deep among various agencies at the department, and POGO has long advocated for better oversight and accountability of the department.
For many federal agencies, oversight begins at the Office of the Inspector General. However, as POGO investigations have revealed multiple times, the watchdog at DHS lacks the independence or integrity to serve in this role and should have been removed long ago. That leaves it to the other watchdog offices within the department to conduct investigations and prevent systemic rights abuses. But now that these offices have been decimated, we are left questioning: Who is watching DHS?
The Trump administration is gutting accountability at DHS while simultaneously taking unprecedented and unlawful measures to ramp up deportation. It’s past time for Congress to step up, do its job, and serve as a check on the executive.
ANALYSIS
In gutting oversight offices, the administration is demolishing key guardrails within the Department of Homeland Security.
ANALYSIS
The legislative branch has abdicated its duty to serve as a check on the executive.
ANALYSIS
A New System Won’t Boost Transparency — Fix USASpending.gov
Trump’s recent executive order won’t improve federal spending transparency. Better oversight and data quality on USAspending.gov will.
Danielle Brian, Executive Director, in New York Times
OVERHEARD
DOGE has given federal courts conflicting information on what government data it has accessed and why. The public deserves to know what DOGE is doing. That's why we're suing DOGE to ensure the media and public have access to their records.>https://t.co/U6WmocASbL
— Project on Government Oversight (@POGOwatchdog) March 27, 2025
Faith Williams, Director of the Effective and Accountable Government Program, in Roll Call
“[Elon Musk] stands to make billions of dollars for his company from those very agencies and departments that he is wielding such power over. These are massive contracts and massive conflicts of interest, real impact on what the taxpayer dollar is going toward.”
Danielle Brian, Executive Director, in Scripps News
