Office of inspector general (United States)

Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, along with Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, have asked the DHS Office of Inspector General to investigate an incident in Hillsboro in which video appears to show an ICE agent slashing a couple's tire. The lawmakers say the couple had been observing and recording ICE agents in a supermarket parking lot on Oct. 7 when several agents in three vehicles boxed them in before puncturing the tire and leaving. They cite a broader pattern of aggressive tactics against observers and reference the death of Alex Pretti in Minnesota during a federal agent encounter. DHS says the incident is under investigation.

A federal judge in Cleveland sentenced Samuel Saxon, 47, former assistant field office director of ICE's Cincinnati sub-office, to 21 months in prison for lying to a federal agent about attacking his girlfriend. Saxon, who joined ICE in 2005, pleaded guilty in April. Prosecutors detailed years of alleged abuse, including strangulation, broken bones and death threats, and said Cincinnati police responded to his home roughly two dozen times without Saxon reporting it to ICE as required. He was arrested in December 2025 after a neighbor reported him choking the woman, then denied seeing her in person. Related domestic violence charges remain pending in state court.

Residents in North Long Beach intervened Saturday after federal immigration agents tackled and detained Ricardo Gonzalez, a U.S. citizen and former city employee, while he rode an e-bike near Elm Avenue and 56th Street. Witnesses said agents tased him twice, knelt on his back and broke his arm, accusing him of smashing a government vehicle's mirror while allegedly impeding agents arresting another individual. As roughly 50 neighbors gathered, agents briefly detained two U.S. citizen women before releasing them and used pepper spray on the crowd. Long Beach police helped free Gonzalez, who was hospitalized and remains in treatment; a GoFundMe organized by his daughter is raising funds for his recovery.

Mayor Rex Richardson filed a formal complaint demanding a Homeland Security inspector general investigation, and Rep. Robert Garcia and Sen. Adam Schiff condemned the arrest. DHS says Gonzalez is under investigation for vehicle damage and claims agents faced "anti-ICE agitators." Protesters rallied outside Long Beach City Hall demanding ICE leave the city. A ProPublica report found 506 U.S. citizens detained by ICE since President Trump took office; legislation has been introduced to ease lawsuits against federal agents for wrongful arrest.

Utah's Department of Health and Human Services is disputing claims from CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz that the state showed zero overpayments recovered in Medicaid managed care. Utah officials say CMS federal reporting systems failed to accurately reflect data the state had submitted, which included 133 fraud referrals drawn from nearly 200 cases investigated by managed care plans.

Oz had singled out Utah along with Arizona, California, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, questioning how states serving millions of Medicaid beneficiaries could report no recovered overpayments. He gave the states 30 days to verify their numbers, warning the pattern could reflect a data error or a deeper oversight failure. Utah says it will comply with the review and work with CMS to clarify its reporting, while noting it already partners with the Office of Inspector General and the state Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to pursue fraud cases.

The dispute comes as broader Medicaid eligibility changes under H.R. 1 begin phasing out coverage for several immigrant categories.

A Phoenix woman, Agatha Milot, discovered she had roughly $20,000 in student loans and grants taken out in her name at the University of Phoenix, a school she never attended. Despite filing a police report, freezing her credit, and notifying both the school and loan servicer MOHELA, she has struggled for two years to get the fraudulent loans discharged, damaging her credit in the process.

Her case reflects a growing problem federal officials call "ghost student" fraud, in which organized groups use stolen identities to enroll in classes and collect federal financial aid with no intention of attending or repaying. The Department of Education's Office of Inspector General says more than $350 million in such fraud has been adjudicated over five years, with actual losses likely higher. Some schools, like Excelsior University, have adopted multi-factor authentication and identity verification to block bad actors. Congress is considering the No Aid for Ghost Students Act of 2026, which would mandate a federal identity-fraud detection system for FAFSA applicants; it has passed the House and awaits Senate action.

A new Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General report confirms that VA terminated 435 contracts worth roughly $1.1 billion "for convenience" out of 2,210 contracts reviewed, following pressure from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the initiative once led by Elon Musk. The remaining 1,775 contract actions examined were reinstated or never terminated. The review was requested in June 2025 by Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Angus King, who raised concerns about the use of AI in cancellation decisions, the sidelining of career VA experts, and how savings were redirected. The OIG also flagged errors in data VA submitted to Congress in 2025, later corrected in an updated April 2026 list.

VA officials defended the cuts as eliminating "wasteful and duplicative" spending with no impact on veterans' care, while Blumenthal maintains VA is serving more veterans than ever. VA holds the federal government's second-largest acquisition budget, at $78.3 billion in fiscal 2025.

The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry took roughly a month to refer a violent inmate-on-staff assault to prosecutors, submitting the case only after ABC15 notified officials it had obtained leaked video of the attack and was preparing a report.

The assault occurred July 28, 2026, inside the Morey Unit at Lewis Prison, where inmate Martin Franco allegedly sucker-punched and beat an officer for more than three minutes without backup, then took the officer's taser, pepper spray, radio, and keys, according to surveillance and body camera footage. An incident report was signed the same day, but the case was not sent to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office until August 27 — one day after ABC15 contacted the department and the day before its story aired. Officials maintain the timing was unrelated to the media inquiry, saying criminal referrals are not influenced by press coverage. Prosecutors are now reviewing the case against Franco. ABC15 notes a similar delay occurred in a 2021 case at a Tucson prison under previous leadership.

A new bipartisan legislative committee tasked with fighting fraud in Minnesota held its first meeting at the State Capitol, marking a step toward establishing the state's Office of Inspector General. Lawmakers called it the most significant anti-fraud measure in state history, with the future office expected to house dozens of full-time investigators empowered to examine state agencies at every level and refer findings to a new in-house law enforcement division for civil or criminal action.

The committee, comprising eight members from the House and Senate, selected a chair and vice chair before turning to its next task: recruiting a new inspector general with a background in auditing, law enforcement, or investigations. The panel aims to deliver a recommendation to the governor by January 1, 2027, after which the governor's chosen candidate would require Senate approval. Lawmakers from both parties described the office as having subpoena power and real investigative authority to address misuse of public funds.