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September 30, 2022
The Trevor Project teams up with a student surveillance company accused of LGBTQ+ bias
(Looking for a tech forum, this seemed best fit.)
The Trevor Project teams up with a student surveillance company accused of LGBTQ+ bias
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/sep/30/trevor-project-gaggle-student-surveillance-lgbtq-bias
The Trevor Project teams up with a student surveillance company accused of LGBTQ+ bias
Many fear the partnership is a ‘seal of approval’ for a company whose surveillance tech disproportionately harms LGBTQ+ youth
Mark Keierleber
@mkeierleber
Fri 30 Sep 2022 07.15 EDT
Amid warnings from lawmakers and civil rights groups that digital surveillance tools could discriminate against at-risk students, a leading nonprofit devoted to the mental wellbeing of LGBTQ+ youth has formed a financial partnership with a tech company that subjects them to persistent online monitoring
Beginning in May, the Trevor Project, a high-profile nonprofit focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQ+ youth, began to list Gaggle as a “corporate partner” on its website, disclosing that the controversial surveillance company had given them between $25,000 (£22,590) and $50,000 (£45,182) in support. Gaggle, which uses artificial intelligence and human content moderators to sift through billions of student chat messages and homework assignments each year in search of students who may harm themselves or others, published a webpage noting the two were collaborating to “improve mental health outcomes for LGBTQ young people”.
Though the precise contours of the partnership remain unclear, a Trevor Project spokesperson said it aims to have a positive influence on the way Gaggle navigates privacy concerns involving LGBTQ+ youth while a Gaggle representative said the company sees the relationship as a learning opportunity.
LGBTQ+ youth are among the most vulnerable to the misuse of this kind of safety monitoring
Both groups maintain that the partnership was forged in the interests of LGBTQ+ students, but student privacy advocates argue the relationship could undermine the Trevor Project’s work while allowing Gaggle to use the relationship to counter criticism about its potential harms to LGBTQ+ students. The collaboration comes at a particularly perilous time for many students as a rash of states implement new anti-LGBTQ+ laws that could erode their privacy and expose them to legal jeopardy.
Teeth Logsdon-Wallace, a 14-year-old student from Minneapolis with first-hand experience of Gaggle’s surveillance dragnet, said the transaction could eliminate any motivation for Gaggle to change its business practices.
…more…
(First they spied on the gays, then…
September 30, 2022
The Trevor Project teams up with a student surveillance company accused of LGBTQ+ bias
Many fear the partnership is a ‘seal of approval’ for a company whose surveillance tech disproportionately harms LGBTQ+ youth
Mark Keierleber
@mkeierleber
Fri 30 Sep 2022 07.15 EDT
Amid warnings from lawmakers and civil rights groups that digital surveillance tools could discriminate against at-risk students, a leading nonprofit devoted to the mental wellbeing of LGBTQ+ youth has formed a financial partnership with a tech company that subjects them to persistent online monitoring
Beginning in May, the Trevor Project, a high-profile nonprofit focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQ+ youth, began to list Gaggle as a “corporate partner” on its website, disclosing that the controversial surveillance company had given them between $25,000 (£22,590) and $50,000 (£45,182) in support. Gaggle, which uses artificial intelligence and human content moderators to sift through billions of student chat messages and homework assignments each year in search of students who may harm themselves or others, published a webpage noting the two were collaborating to “improve mental health outcomes for LGBTQ young people”.
Though the precise contours of the partnership remain unclear, a Trevor Project spokesperson said it aims to have a positive influence on the way Gaggle navigates privacy concerns involving LGBTQ+ youth while a Gaggle representative said the company sees the relationship as a learning opportunity.
LGBTQ+ youth are among the most vulnerable to the misuse of this kind of safety monitoring
Both groups maintain that the partnership was forged in the interests of LGBTQ+ students, but student privacy advocates argue the relationship could undermine the Trevor Project’s work while allowing Gaggle to use the relationship to counter criticism about its potential harms to LGBTQ+ students. The collaboration comes at a particularly perilous time for many students as a rash of states implement new anti-LGBTQ+ laws that could erode their privacy and expose them to legal jeopardy.
Teeth Logsdon-Wallace, a 14-year-old student from Minneapolis with first-hand experience of Gaggle’s surveillance dragnet, said the transaction could eliminate any motivation for Gaggle to change its business practices.
…more…
(First they spied on the gays, then…)
The Trevor Project teams up with a student surveillance company accused of LGBTQ+ bias
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/sep/30/trevor-project-gaggle-student-surveillance-lgbtq-biasThe Trevor Project teams up with a student surveillance company accused of LGBTQ+ bias
Many fear the partnership is a ‘seal of approval’ for a company whose surveillance tech disproportionately harms LGBTQ+ youth
Mark Keierleber
@mkeierleber
Fri 30 Sep 2022 07.15 EDT
Amid warnings from lawmakers and civil rights groups that digital surveillance tools could discriminate against at-risk students, a leading nonprofit devoted to the mental wellbeing of LGBTQ+ youth has formed a financial partnership with a tech company that subjects them to persistent online monitoring
Beginning in May, the Trevor Project, a high-profile nonprofit focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQ+ youth, began to list Gaggle as a “corporate partner” on its website, disclosing that the controversial surveillance company had given them between $25,000 (£22,590) and $50,000 (£45,182) in support. Gaggle, which uses artificial intelligence and human content moderators to sift through billions of student chat messages and homework assignments each year in search of students who may harm themselves or others, published a webpage noting the two were collaborating to “improve mental health outcomes for LGBTQ young people”.
Though the precise contours of the partnership remain unclear, a Trevor Project spokesperson said it aims to have a positive influence on the way Gaggle navigates privacy concerns involving LGBTQ+ youth while a Gaggle representative said the company sees the relationship as a learning opportunity.
LGBTQ+ youth are among the most vulnerable to the misuse of this kind of safety monitoring
Both groups maintain that the partnership was forged in the interests of LGBTQ+ students, but student privacy advocates argue the relationship could undermine the Trevor Project’s work while allowing Gaggle to use the relationship to counter criticism about its potential harms to LGBTQ+ students. The collaboration comes at a particularly perilous time for many students as a rash of states implement new anti-LGBTQ+ laws that could erode their privacy and expose them to legal jeopardy.
Teeth Logsdon-Wallace, a 14-year-old student from Minneapolis with first-hand experience of Gaggle’s surveillance dragnet, said the transaction could eliminate any motivation for Gaggle to change its business practices.
…more…
(First they spied on the gays, then…)
September 29, 2022
(long read: the sacklers of real estate)
The Blackstone rebellion: how one country took on the world’s biggest commercial landlord
The giant asset management firm used to target places where people worked and shopped. Then it started buying up people’s homes. In one country, the backlash was ferocious
by Hettie O'Brien
Thu 29 Sep 2022 01.00 EDT
…
The company has acquired houses and apartments at a voracious speed in cities around the world. Like any company, Blackstone is focused on creating returns for its investors. Residents in some Blackstone properties have accused it of raising rents while reducing overheads, and the company has even been blamed – by an adviser to the United Nations – of helping to fuel the global housing crisis. (Blackstone vehemently denies these accusations and has previously said that the UN adviser’s findings included “numerous false claims, significant factual errors and inaccurate conclusions”.)
…
This methodical, even cautious, approach to investing has yielded big rewards. Today, the name of Blackstone’s founder can be seen on universities and public institutions across the US. There is a Stephen Schwarzman building at the New York Public Library, a Schwarzman centre at Yale University and the Schwarzman College of Computing in Massachusetts. Soon, the University of Oxford will open the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, funded by the largest single donation it has ever received. Yet, beyond the inscription of its founder’s name into buildings and brass plaques, Blackstone is shaping the cities around us in a more profound way.
…
In most places where it began to buy up residential properties, Blackstone faced little opposition from governments or politicians. That is, until it arrived in a small Scandinavian country, which, when confronted with the indifferent force of this global real estate company, decided Blackstone had gone too far. “Blackstone was like a boxer walking into a heavy right-hand hook to the jaw,” Curt Liliegreen, a Danish housing economist, told me. “They didn’t see it coming. They picked totally the wrong place.”
…more…
The Blackstone rebellion: how one country took on the world's biggest commercial landlord
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/29/blackstone-rebellion-how-one-country-worlds-biggest-commercial-landlord-denmark(long read: the sacklers of real estate)
The Blackstone rebellion: how one country took on the world’s biggest commercial landlord
The giant asset management firm used to target places where people worked and shopped. Then it started buying up people’s homes. In one country, the backlash was ferocious
by Hettie O'Brien
Thu 29 Sep 2022 01.00 EDT
…
The company has acquired houses and apartments at a voracious speed in cities around the world. Like any company, Blackstone is focused on creating returns for its investors. Residents in some Blackstone properties have accused it of raising rents while reducing overheads, and the company has even been blamed – by an adviser to the United Nations – of helping to fuel the global housing crisis. (Blackstone vehemently denies these accusations and has previously said that the UN adviser’s findings included “numerous false claims, significant factual errors and inaccurate conclusions”.)
…
This methodical, even cautious, approach to investing has yielded big rewards. Today, the name of Blackstone’s founder can be seen on universities and public institutions across the US. There is a Stephen Schwarzman building at the New York Public Library, a Schwarzman centre at Yale University and the Schwarzman College of Computing in Massachusetts. Soon, the University of Oxford will open the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, funded by the largest single donation it has ever received. Yet, beyond the inscription of its founder’s name into buildings and brass plaques, Blackstone is shaping the cities around us in a more profound way.
…
In most places where it began to buy up residential properties, Blackstone faced little opposition from governments or politicians. That is, until it arrived in a small Scandinavian country, which, when confronted with the indifferent force of this global real estate company, decided Blackstone had gone too far. “Blackstone was like a boxer walking into a heavy right-hand hook to the jaw,” Curt Liliegreen, a Danish housing economist, told me. “They didn’t see it coming. They picked totally the wrong place.”
…more…
September 28, 2022
California Gov. Newsom Signs 13 Abortion Protection Bills & Outlaws “Pink Tax”
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill outlawing what’s known as the pink tax. The new law bars companies from charging different prices for products marketed for women. Newsom also signed 13 abortion protection and reproductive health bills Tuesday, as well as legislation aimed to better identify gender- and race-based pay disparities.
Newsom outlaws pink tax.
https://www.democracynow.org/2022/9/28/headlines/california_gov_newsom_signs_13_abortion_protection_bills_outlaws_pink_taxCalifornia Gov. Newsom Signs 13 Abortion Protection Bills & Outlaws “Pink Tax”
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill outlawing what’s known as the pink tax. The new law bars companies from charging different prices for products marketed for women. Newsom also signed 13 abortion protection and reproductive health bills Tuesday, as well as legislation aimed to better identify gender- and race-based pay disparities.
September 28, 2022
Revealed: 5,000 empty ‘ghost flights’ in UK since 2019, data shows
More than 5,000 completely empty passenger flights have flown to or from UK airports since 2019, the Guardian can reveal.
A further 35,000 commercial flights have operated almost empty since 2019, with fewer than 10% of seats filled, according to analysis of data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). This makes a total of about 40,000 “ghost flights”.
In one quarter, for example, 62 empty planes left Luton airport for Poland, while in another, Heathrow saw 663 almost empty flights going to and from the US. Both quarters were during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Air travel results in more carbon emissions an hour than any other consumer activity and is dominated by a minority of frequent flyers, making it a focus of climate campaigners. They called the ghost flight revelations “shocking” and said a jet fuel tax was needed and airport expansion plans should be questioned. The UK government describes ghost flights as “environmentally damaging”.
Why ghost flights operate remains unclear. Only airlines know the reasons but they do not publish data that explains the practice. Ghost flights may run to fulfil “use-it-or-lose-it” airport slot rules, though these were suspended during the height of the pandemic. Other reasons cited by airlines include Covid repatriation flights or the repositioning of aircraft. But these cannot be verified and campaigners said more transparency was needed.
The new data gives the fullest picture to date of the number of UK ghost flights, as previous data only counted international departures. It now includes international arrivals and flights within the UK. The CAA will now publish this data quarterly, as a result of a series of FoI requests by the Guardian.
“Publication of this data is a step in the right direction, but we need more transparency to understand why these inefficient, polluting practices continue, and to hold the main airline culprits to account,” said Tim Johnson at the Aviation Environment Federation. “Given the climate emergency, the revelation that so many near empty planes have been burning fossil fuels and adding to the CO2 building up in the atmosphere is pretty shocking.”
…more…
Revealed: 5,000 empty 'ghost flights' in UK since 2019, data shows
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/28/revealed-5000-completely-empty-ghost-flights-in-uk-since-2019-data-showsRevealed: 5,000 empty ‘ghost flights’ in UK since 2019, data shows
More than 5,000 completely empty passenger flights have flown to or from UK airports since 2019, the Guardian can reveal.
A further 35,000 commercial flights have operated almost empty since 2019, with fewer than 10% of seats filled, according to analysis of data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). This makes a total of about 40,000 “ghost flights”.
In one quarter, for example, 62 empty planes left Luton airport for Poland, while in another, Heathrow saw 663 almost empty flights going to and from the US. Both quarters were during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Air travel results in more carbon emissions an hour than any other consumer activity and is dominated by a minority of frequent flyers, making it a focus of climate campaigners. They called the ghost flight revelations “shocking” and said a jet fuel tax was needed and airport expansion plans should be questioned. The UK government describes ghost flights as “environmentally damaging”.
Why ghost flights operate remains unclear. Only airlines know the reasons but they do not publish data that explains the practice. Ghost flights may run to fulfil “use-it-or-lose-it” airport slot rules, though these were suspended during the height of the pandemic. Other reasons cited by airlines include Covid repatriation flights or the repositioning of aircraft. But these cannot be verified and campaigners said more transparency was needed.
The new data gives the fullest picture to date of the number of UK ghost flights, as previous data only counted international departures. It now includes international arrivals and flights within the UK. The CAA will now publish this data quarterly, as a result of a series of FoI requests by the Guardian.
“Publication of this data is a step in the right direction, but we need more transparency to understand why these inefficient, polluting practices continue, and to hold the main airline culprits to account,” said Tim Johnson at the Aviation Environment Federation. “Given the climate emergency, the revelation that so many near empty planes have been burning fossil fuels and adding to the CO2 building up in the atmosphere is pretty shocking.”
…more…
September 27, 2022
Fox News’s Tucker Carlson speaks at Hells Angels president’s funeral
The rightwing Fox News host Tucker Carlson spoke at the funeral of Ralph “Sonny” Barger, the longtime president of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, in Stockton, California, on Saturday.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) considers the Hells Angels to be linked to organised crime.
…
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
…more…
Fox News's Tucker Carlson speaks at Hells Angels president's funeral
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/26/tucker-carlson-hells-angels-ralph-sonny-bargerFox News’s Tucker Carlson speaks at Hells Angels president’s funeral
The rightwing Fox News host Tucker Carlson spoke at the funeral of Ralph “Sonny” Barger, the longtime president of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, in Stockton, California, on Saturday.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) considers the Hells Angels to be linked to organised crime.
…
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
…more…
September 25, 2022
For Mormons, a perfect lawn is a godly act. But the drought is catching up with them
In June 2021, Marlene and Emron Esplin stopped watering their front lawn. Given that the Esplins live in Utah, where maintaining lush green turf is often associated with the fulfillment of a biblical prophecy, the decision to let their grass go brown was a radical act.
“I just felt like it was morally wrong to be watering our yard so much,” says Marlene who, along with her husband, is a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A month earlier, Utah Governor Spencer Cox had declared a state of emergency due to a record lack of precipitation and he asked the public to pray for rain. He declared a second drought-related state of emergency in April 2022.
Like the rest of the south-west, Utah is in a megadrought that started in 2000. As the second driest state in the United States behind Nevada, the unprecedented aridity has hit Utah especially hard. For the last two summers, about 90% of the state was in exceptional, extreme or severe drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. But this did not stop people in Utah – the Esplins notwithstanding – from keeping their grass green all summer long.
…
When trying to explain the near-religious devotion to irrigated landscapes, Mormons often quote a verse from the Old Testament (Isaiah 35:1-2) that inspired their 19th century pioneer ancestors who settled in Utah: “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.”
…
“It is total insanity that the Great Salt Lake is drying up and we are using hundreds of thousands of acre feet of treated culinary water to irrigate the totally useless crop of Kentucky bluegrass,” Zach Frankel, executive director of Utah Rivers Council, said of the thirsty emerald green turf that is the preferred lawn in Utah. Frankel, who is not Mormon, believes well-meaning Latter-day Saints have been co-opted by politicians and profit-hungry developers to maintain thirsty lawns in order to justify the need for more water projects
“The grass lawn is not in anyone’s best interest except for those at the Utah state house who are seeking billions of dollars in unnecessary spending,” says Frankel.
…more…
(Follow manifest destiny and religion to irrigation and dams and big money.)
For Mormons, a perfect lawn is a godly act. But the drought is catching up with them
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/25/mormons-lawns-utah-old-testament-godly-act-megadroughtFor Mormons, a perfect lawn is a godly act. But the drought is catching up with them
In June 2021, Marlene and Emron Esplin stopped watering their front lawn. Given that the Esplins live in Utah, where maintaining lush green turf is often associated with the fulfillment of a biblical prophecy, the decision to let their grass go brown was a radical act.
“I just felt like it was morally wrong to be watering our yard so much,” says Marlene who, along with her husband, is a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A month earlier, Utah Governor Spencer Cox had declared a state of emergency due to a record lack of precipitation and he asked the public to pray for rain. He declared a second drought-related state of emergency in April 2022.
Like the rest of the south-west, Utah is in a megadrought that started in 2000. As the second driest state in the United States behind Nevada, the unprecedented aridity has hit Utah especially hard. For the last two summers, about 90% of the state was in exceptional, extreme or severe drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. But this did not stop people in Utah – the Esplins notwithstanding – from keeping their grass green all summer long.
…
When trying to explain the near-religious devotion to irrigated landscapes, Mormons often quote a verse from the Old Testament (Isaiah 35:1-2) that inspired their 19th century pioneer ancestors who settled in Utah: “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.”
…
“It is total insanity that the Great Salt Lake is drying up and we are using hundreds of thousands of acre feet of treated culinary water to irrigate the totally useless crop of Kentucky bluegrass,” Zach Frankel, executive director of Utah Rivers Council, said of the thirsty emerald green turf that is the preferred lawn in Utah. Frankel, who is not Mormon, believes well-meaning Latter-day Saints have been co-opted by politicians and profit-hungry developers to maintain thirsty lawns in order to justify the need for more water projects
“The grass lawn is not in anyone’s best interest except for those at the Utah state house who are seeking billions of dollars in unnecessary spending,” says Frankel.
…more…
(Follow manifest destiny and religion to irrigation and dams and big money.)
September 25, 2022
Federal Judge Allows 'Untenable' Plan to Send Juvenile Inmates to Angola Prison
JULIA CONLEY
September 24, 2022
Critics of mass incarceration are condemning a ruling handed down late Friday by a federal judge in Louisiana, who admitted the state's plan to send teenage inmates at a juvenile detention center to the notorious state penitentiary at Angola was "disturbing" even as she decided the plan could move forward.
Chief U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick ruled that the Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ) can send two dozen children under the age of 18 from Bridge City Center for Youth, located outside New Orleans, to the Louisiana State Penitentiary, denying a motion brought by several law firms and the ACLU to halt the plan.
The plan was proposed by the OJJ after a series of escapes from the Bridge City Center, which were also used as the reasoning behind subjecting youths in the facility to solitary confinement earlier this year.
Dick said in her ruling that "locking children in cells at night at Angola is untenable" but that the state cannot tolerate "the threat of harm these youngsters present to themselves, and others."
She also noted that some of the youths who may be sent to Angola are "traumatized and emotionally and psychologically disturbed" but suggested that the state prison, the largest maximum security prison in the U.S., can provide a more "secure care environment" for them.
Ahead of the ruling, the ACLU warned on Thursday that the plan is "unprecedented and dangerous."
(Bad judges everywhere.)
Federal Judge Allows 'Untenable' Plan to Send Juvenile Inmates to Angola Prison
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/09/24/federal-judge-allows-untenable-plan-send-juvenile-inmates-angola-prisonFederal Judge Allows 'Untenable' Plan to Send Juvenile Inmates to Angola Prison
JULIA CONLEY
September 24, 2022
Critics of mass incarceration are condemning a ruling handed down late Friday by a federal judge in Louisiana, who admitted the state's plan to send teenage inmates at a juvenile detention center to the notorious state penitentiary at Angola was "disturbing" even as she decided the plan could move forward.
Chief U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick ruled that the Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ) can send two dozen children under the age of 18 from Bridge City Center for Youth, located outside New Orleans, to the Louisiana State Penitentiary, denying a motion brought by several law firms and the ACLU to halt the plan.
The plan was proposed by the OJJ after a series of escapes from the Bridge City Center, which were also used as the reasoning behind subjecting youths in the facility to solitary confinement earlier this year.
Dick said in her ruling that "locking children in cells at night at Angola is untenable" but that the state cannot tolerate "the threat of harm these youngsters present to themselves, and others."
She also noted that some of the youths who may be sent to Angola are "traumatized and emotionally and psychologically disturbed" but suggested that the state prison, the largest maximum security prison in the U.S., can provide a more "secure care environment" for them.
Ahead of the ruling, the ACLU warned on Thursday that the plan is "unprecedented and dangerous."
(Bad judges everywhere.)
September 24, 2022
DHS Officials Urge Biden to End 'Disastrous Leadership' of Embattled IG
BRETT WILKINS
September 23, 2022
An anonymous letter published Friday by a watchdog group revealed officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General called on President Joe Biden to fire their boss, a scandal-plagued appointee of former President Donald Trump whose actions the staffers say "greatly hinder" the agency's mission.
The letter—which was obtained and published by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO)—states that DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari "no longer has the support of his workforce," who "can no longer hope that the ship will right itself."
"We need help. We can no longer be silent when faced with continuous mismanagement of DHS OIG at its highest levels," the letter continues. "IG Cuffari has made it clear that he wishes to remain in his position, even in the face of prolonged, deserved criticism in the media, from Congress, from other oversight entities, and from his own staff."
Cuffari has rejected congressional demands for documents and blocked staff from testifying about the deletion of text messages sent by Secret Service agents and senior DHS officials before and on the day of the deadly January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
House Democrats have accused Cuffari of a "cover-up" for repeatedly waiting months to notify Congress about the existence of the deleted texts.
"His actions embarrass the entire agency," the letter contends. "His actions impede and greatly hinder our mission... DHS OIG will continue to fail under his disastrous leadership."
It adds, "You are the only one who can help us before DHS OIG are forever damaged by IG Cuffari."
POGO has also called for Biden to fire Cuffari, with the group's director of public policy, Liz Hempowicz, writing last month that his "shortcomings as an inspector general were clear long before they landed him in the middle of one of the most high-profile investigations of our time."
DHS Officials Urge Biden to End 'Disastrous Leadership' of Embattled IG
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/09/23/dhs-officials-urge-biden-end-disastrous-leadership-embattled-igDHS Officials Urge Biden to End 'Disastrous Leadership' of Embattled IG
BRETT WILKINS
September 23, 2022
An anonymous letter published Friday by a watchdog group revealed officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General called on President Joe Biden to fire their boss, a scandal-plagued appointee of former President Donald Trump whose actions the staffers say "greatly hinder" the agency's mission.
The letter—which was obtained and published by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO)—states that DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari "no longer has the support of his workforce," who "can no longer hope that the ship will right itself."
"We need help. We can no longer be silent when faced with continuous mismanagement of DHS OIG at its highest levels," the letter continues. "IG Cuffari has made it clear that he wishes to remain in his position, even in the face of prolonged, deserved criticism in the media, from Congress, from other oversight entities, and from his own staff."
Cuffari has rejected congressional demands for documents and blocked staff from testifying about the deletion of text messages sent by Secret Service agents and senior DHS officials before and on the day of the deadly January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
House Democrats have accused Cuffari of a "cover-up" for repeatedly waiting months to notify Congress about the existence of the deleted texts.
"His actions embarrass the entire agency," the letter contends. "His actions impede and greatly hinder our mission... DHS OIG will continue to fail under his disastrous leadership."
It adds, "You are the only one who can help us before DHS OIG are forever damaged by IG Cuffari."
POGO has also called for Biden to fire Cuffari, with the group's director of public policy, Liz Hempowicz, writing last month that his "shortcomings as an inspector general were clear long before they landed him in the middle of one of the most high-profile investigations of our time."
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