The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general is retiring from his post as a battle continues over whether the department will allow the release of a report he wrote critical of the administration’s travel ban.
John Roth’s office confirmed he will step down, even though spokeswoman Arlen Morales claimed the decision was not unexpected and had been planned for a while. She added that it was not related in any way to the battle over the release of the disputed report.
“He’s retiring after 32 years of federal service. He’s moving on. It’s his own decision,” Morales said.
Roth as well denied there was a connection between his retirement and the report. On November 20, he raised concerns in a letter he sent to three Democrats in which Roth reveals his office’s findings as to how U.S. Customs and Border Protection implemented Trump’s first version of the travel ban in January.
In the letter, he also expressed concerns about the amount of time DHS leaders needed to decide which parts of the report to release to the public. The entire report has not been made public yet. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke said on Thursday the matter was still being investigated and confirmed before the House Homeland Security Committee that the department still intends to block parts of the report from being published as they are in violation of law.
Not long after, a spokesman for the department said the report may be released “soon.”
“The Department of Justice is conducting a third-party review of the privileged documents in the report. We always intended to release this terribly flawed report – and likely will do so soon,” the spokesman said.
Roth said he was “very troubled” the DHS wants to stop the release of the report, claiming that “we regularly have published dozens of reports that delve into the department’s rationale for specific policies and decisions, and comment on the basis and process on which those decisions were made.”
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