5. Department of Homeland Security · Minor
'Soft close' ineffective DHS offices using the Secretary's discretion
Printed page 137 5. Department of Homeland Security
“The Secretary therefore can and should use his or her inherent, discretionary leadership authority to "soft close" ineffective and problematic corners of the department. … the Secretary could shift personnel, funding, and operational responsibility to mission-essential components of the department, including the Office of the Secretary itself.”
What has happened
- Partially done
The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman has stopped operating and has not reopened. An office the Secretary judged to be an obstacle is dark without any statute being repealed — the soft close the Quote asks for, delivered once. It is `partial` and not `done` because the other targeted offices continue to exist and DHS told a court in May 2025 that they would keep performing their statutory functions.
- Attempted
DHS confirmed reductions in force at three headquarters offices — Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Immigration Detention Ombudsman and the CIS Ombudsman — with its spokesperson calling them "internal adversaries that slow down operations". That is the Secretary's discretionary authority being used exactly as the Quote describes, but on that date the offices were still operating.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
The instrument here is the same March 2025 reduction in force that #278 tracks; the reading is different. #278 asks whether DHS’s supporting components have been dismantled. This Quote asks only whether the Secretary has used discretionary leadership authority to “soft close” offices she considers ineffective — and she has, by name and on the record.
- Section 513 of Public Law 119-86 (2026-04-30) now bars DHS from using its section 872 reorganization authority without new legislation, which narrows the discretionary route the Quote relies on.
- Litigation lead: Kennedy Human Rights Center v. DHS, D.D.C. 1:25-cv-01270 — docket not readable without authentication.
- Action
- eliminate
- Object
- ineffective DHS offices
- ID
- 286