Federal Reports

This Semiannual Report to Congress reflects how the EPA OIG is achieving its mission of preventing and detecting fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, and misconduct related to the programs and operations of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board during the reporting period, October 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

Semiannual Report to Congress, Volume 89 (October 1, 2022 - March 31, 2023)

The objective for this unannounced inspection was to determine whether U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) complies with National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search (TEDS) and other relevant policies and procedures related to length of detention and conditions of detention at seven CBP short-term holding facilities. In May 2022, we conducted unannounced inspections of three Border Patrol stations in the Swanton sector, one port of entry in the Office of Field Operations (OFO) Boston Field Office area of responsibility, and three ports of entry in the OFO Buffalo Field Office area of responsibility; however, CBP had no migrants in custody.

The objective was to determine whether the Department of Homeland Security complied with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA) in fiscal year 2022. We determined that although DHS made improvements to reduce improper payments (IP) and unknown payments (UP), it did not comply with the PIIA.

We conducted an unannounced inspection of Northwest ICE Processing Center (Northwest) to assess ICE field offices’ management of these facilities and compliance with applicable standards. We also conducted a limited review of the facility’s COVID-19 requirements. We found that the facility complied with standards for intake and classification; facility conditions, including housing and hygiene; detainee access to law library and legal services; recreation; segregation; use of force; and providing timely responses to detainee requests. Northwest also complied with COVID-19 protocols and requirements set forth by a Federal court order. However, Northwest did not always provide timely responses to detainee grievances and did not always respond to detainee requests and grievances in a language understood by the detainee.

This report contains information about recommendations from the OIG's audits, evaluations, reviews, and other reports that the OIG had not closed as of the specified date because it had not determined that the Department of Justice (DOJ) or a non-DOJ federal agency had fully implemented them. The list omits information that DOJ determined to be limited official use or classified, and therefore unsuitable for public release.The status of each recommendation was accurate as of the specified date and is subject to change. Specifically, a recommendation identified as not closed as of the specified date may subsequently have been closed.

The objective for this unannounced inspection was to determine whether U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) complied with National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search (TEDS) and other relevant policies and procedures related to conditions of detention at nine CBP short-term migrant holding facilities in the Rio Grande Valley area of Texas. Our inspections and subsequent analysis showed Border Patrol held 1,736 detainees in custody in five facilities longer than the TEDS standard, which generally limits detention in these facilities to 72 hours. Increased migrant encounters was a contributing factor to time in custody, and exacerbated Border Patrol staffing challenges in the Rio Grande Valley.