CNN
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The Department of Homeland Security’s oversight arm opened an investigation into the controversial arrest of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil only days before officials working for that office were placed on administrative leave, according to a whistleblower disclosure exclusively obtained by CNN.
It’s an example, according to whistleblowers, of the type of work that is now paused after the department’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties was dissolved in late March. The elimination of the office, which had about 150 employees, came around the same time that civil rights offices were similarly shuttered or severely reduced within the departments of Defense, Justice and Education.
When the DHS office was closed, it had about 550 open investigations — ranging from accusations against FEMA personnel skipping over the homes of Trump supporters during disaster-relief work, poor conditions in immigrant detention, more than two dozen open cases of alleged sexual abuse and the high-profile arrest of Khalil, according to the disclosure sent to key congressional committees on behalf of whistleblowers by the Government Accountability Project, a non-partisan, nonprofit whistleblower support organization.
In early March, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested and detained Khalil, a negotiator for pro-Palestinian student protestors in talks with Columbia University’s administration over last spring’s contentious campus encampment. He was one of several foreign nationals who were accused by the Trump administration of being a threat to national security due to purported ties to terrorist organizations. His attorneys have disputed that characterization, and they have sparred with the government over whether a warrant was needed to arrest him.
“In the days before March 21, 2025, CRCL opened an investigation into due process concerns raised by Khalil’s arrest and his attempted removal from the United States,” according to the DHS whistleblower disclosure. That appears to be the extent of the investigation. The disclosure doesn’t suggest that it was the reason for the office’s disbanding.
CNN reached out to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS has previously described the office as acting as an internal roadblock to the agency’s immigration-enforcement mission.
Brian Hauss, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project and one of Khalil’s lawyers, said the Trump administration’s “unconstitutional retaliation” against the activist is “readily apparent.”
“It is unfortunate that DHS’s Civil Rights and Civil Liberties office was dissolved before an investigation could be conducted, but we look forward to vindicating his rights in court,” Hauss said.
The civil rights office, established by the same post-9/11 law that created DHS, has a broad portfolio. It’s charged with investigating and working to resolve complaints brought by the public against the department, as well as advising on policies and engaging with communities affected by DHS activities.
On March 21, Homeland Security officials called CRCL employees to a meeting where they were informed about the reduction in force and that, effective immediately, staff would be put on leave. The work of the office abruptly ceased, prompting Thursday’s whistleblower report.
“These disclosures together depict a wholesale elimination of internal civil rights safeguards at DHS and the removal of congressionally mandated oversight, an unprecedented development with profound legal, humanitarian, and budgetary implications,” it reads.
The dissolution of CRCL, whistleblowers allege, will “cause a significant and specific threat” to US citizens and other individuals who interact with DHS, particularly as the administration renews practices like family detention which have prompted concerns in the past.
Aside from the Khalil case, CRCL was also investigating allegations that FEMA officials discriminated against Trump supporters “in providing benefits following a federally-recognized natural disaster.”
Last year, the agency came under scrutiny amid reports that a FEMA employee told disaster relief workers to skip homes that had Trump signs in their yards in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
That employee later told CNN she was following FEMA protocol emphasizing de-escalation after agency workers received threats from Trump supporters during previous natural disasters.
The whistleblowers also describe open investigations into a wide range of alleged civil rights abuses by immigration officers, including discriminating against travelers based on protected characteristics including their native language, religion or the country they were born in; identifying travelers for screening on the basis of “First Amendment protected activity”; and denying reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities during their interactions with DHS officials.
