Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights v. DHS

When Congress created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002, it created within DHS an Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to make sure that the new department was exercising its power in a way that respected individuals’ civil rights and liberties. Congress also created an ombudsman’s office, tasked with helping immigrants who were experiencing problems dealing with the DHS bureaucracy. And in response to abuses in immigration detention reported during the first Trump administration, Congress created a second ombudsman’s office, this one tasked with monitoring conditions in immigration detention facilities.

On March 21, 2025, DHS announced its intention to close all three of these oversight offices and fire nearly all of the employees.

Representing the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Southern Border Communities Coalition, and Urban Justice Center – three nonprofit organizations that rely on these offices to represent immigrants and people living near the US-Mexico border – Public Citizen filed suit against DHS to challenge the shut-down of the three oversight offices created and funded by Congress.