Geraldo Lunas Campos died at a Texas detention center on Jan. 3 while pleading for air as guards choked him, according to a fellow detainee. The local medical examiner’s office is considering classifying his death as a homicide, The Post reports. Yet a spokesperson for the administration tells a different story, contending that Campos attempted to take his own life and died while “violently” resisting staff.
This is exactly the sort of case that the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) at the Department of Homeland Security should investigate, so that the public can trust the government’s version of events. Unfortunately, the administration has hobbled that office.
Before President Donald Trump took office, CRCL had a staff of about 150 people and was investigating more than 500 allegations of civil rights violations by the department. Today, that office, which Congress established when it created DHS, has just a handful of employees. The administration attempted to shutter CRCL entirely, alongside two ombudsman offices at DHS, but backed off that plan after advocacy groups sued. DHS officials have repeatedly insisted that CRCL remains “fully operational,” despite its slashed workforce.
The need for independent oversight of the administration’s immigration enforcement agencies has become irrefutable in the past few weeks. The killing of Renée Good in Minneapolis is just the most high-profile incident of a confrontation getting out of hand. Officers have also been accused of using chokeholds while making arrests and pointing their guns at bystanders. At least 10 people have been shot by officers during DHS operations over the last year, including two people this month in Portland, Oregon.
The administration’s recruitment strategy for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers is clearly designed to attract people who are ideologically aligned with its goal of mass deportation. The administration is even rewarding officers for the number of arrests they make, even if those detainees are later released without charges.
Just as concerning is the state of detention centers, which are not supposed to be punitive yet have received complaints of overcrowding, lack of food and limited access to health care. The administration has long denied claims of poor conditions, yet troubling accounts from detainees persist. The American Immigration Council reported last week that some facilities have rationed toilet paper to four squares per person.
Already, six people have died in ICE custody in 2026. Last year’s count reached 32, the highest number in more than two decades. That includes one person being held at an Arizona facility who succumbed to tuberculosis. Multiple detention facilities have reported outbreaks of the disease, which is often associated with poor living conditions.
The administration will not change direction on its own. If anything, the public’s angry response to its policies has prodded the president to double down. The only real solution, it seems, will need to come from Congress.
Democrats have already threatened to hold up the spending bill for DHS that must pass before the end of this month to extract concessions on Trump’s immigration policies. As the public increasingly sours on the crackdown and the scenes from Minneapolis, Republican appropriators would be wise to force a course correction while avoiding another government shutdown. Restoring DHS’s watchdog offices would be a good first step to ensure that bad behavior has real consequences.
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