The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday night that the agency has begun an internal review of popular vote loser Donald Trump's Muslim ban.
“The review is being initiated in response to congressional request and whistleblower and hotline complaints,” said John Roth, the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security.
Along with looking at the basic implementation of the Executive Order, a statement from Roth’s office said the review would check the “adherence to court orders and allegations of individual misconduct on the part of DHS personnel.”
The IG’s reference to court orders and possible misconduct dovetail with complaints from members of Congress, civil liberties groups, and individual lawyers, many of whom claimed that they have not been allowed to see people detained at major airports in the U.S.—especially at Dulles Airport, outside Washington, D.C.
Here's a good example of how those court orders are being ignored not just by DHS staff in Customs and Border Patrol, but within the Department of Justice. U.S. Attorneys and U.S. Marshals are playing a game of hot potato with court orders in Los Angeles, both refusing to enforce the order. The DHS review is important, but limited in its actions.
This comes as the Washington Post reported that the Trump transition team had informed the inspectors general of all the agencies that they were going to be fired the week before Trump's inauguration. IGs "by bipartisan tradition have open-ended appointments regardless of party," so this was a typically rash and extraordinary move by the president-elect's team. The firings were withdrawn, but the inspectors must be feeling they're on thin ice.