1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

The permanent closure of the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman on May 5 must be reversed immediately. With 18 detainees already dead in the first four months of 2026 and deaths occurring at a rate of one per week, eliminating the only independent watchdog dedicated to detention oversight is unconscionable. Congress created OIDO by law in 2019 precisely to prevent these tragedies. OIDO's complaint portal is now offline. Families reporting urgent medical concerns have nowhere to turn. Attorneys representing detained individuals have lost their formal pathway to investigate abuse. The five remaining staff cannot meaningfully oversee 220 active facilities holding over 70,000 people. Meanwhile, deaths continue: an Afghan refugee who served alongside American forces, a Mexican teenager, and at least five apparent suicides this year alone. The 2026 appropriations bill zeroed out OIDO's $28.6 million budget without explicitly abolishing the office Congress mandated. This may be illegal, as legal experts argue only Congress can dismantle what Congress created. If ICE detention continues, independent oversight is not optional. It is a human rights necessity. Restore full funding to OIDO immediately. If you cannot guarantee independent oversight and end these preventable deaths, shut down the facilities causing them.