DHS Officials Describe Polygraph Exams and Reassignments as Trump Administration Expands Deportations to Record Levels

The Guardian reported that more than three dozen current and former Department of Homeland Security officials described a climate of intimidation that included polygraph examinations conducted by U.S. Air Force personnel and orders to accept reassignments with only days to decide.

The examinations, which some officials said lasted as long as six hours, were preceded by Miranda warnings and took place in small rooms equipped with pulse monitors, blood-pressure cuffs and chest bands.

Employees received written notice that the tests were voluntary, yet were told refusal could lead to loss of security clearance and employment. Offices responsible for refugee policy, asylum, humanitarian protections and family unity were dismantled or stripped of staff during the past year and a half.

Under Kristi Noem the department carried out more than 675,000 deportations, expanded immigration detention to record levels, halted nearly all refugee resettlement while fast-tracking admissions for white South Africans, resumed family separation, sent some immigrants to El Salvador’s Cecot prison and began using Guantánamo Bay as an immigration detention facility.

Harun Ahmed, who served nearly 17 years as deputy chief in the refugee affairs law division at USCIS, accepted a buyout from the Department of Government Efficiency after concluding he could no longer support policies he viewed as immoral or illegal.

Ron Rosenberg, who spent more than 26 years in federal service and oversaw the mid-Atlantic region at USCIS, said the second Trump term differed sharply from the first, with career staff reassigned and offices directed to remove pronouns from email signatures.