House Democrats Sue ICE for Barring Them From Detention Facilities

Source: New York Times

House Democrats Sue ICE for Barring Them From Detention Facilities

The 12 Democrats accused the Trump administration of violating the law when it turned them away from immigrant detention sites and imposed a new policy limiting congressional access.


Representative Dan Goldman at an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations field office in New York last month. He is one of the dozen Democrats seeking to have the new ICE guidance on congressional visits dismissed. Hilary Swift for The New York Times

By Michael Gold
Reporting from the Capitol
July 30, 2025, 1:19 p.m. ET

A dozen House Democrats who were barred from visiting immigration detention facilities sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, arguing that a new policy imposed by the Department of Homeland Security to limit lawmakers' access was an illegal infringement on their ability to conduct congressional oversight.

Over the last few months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities have become the battleground in a political showdown between federal officials and Democratic lawmakers over the White House's sweeping crackdown on immigration and the constitutional separation of powers.

Under the federal law that funds ICE, the agency cannot prevent members of Congress or their employees from making oversight visits to immigration facilities that "detain or otherwise house aliens." Lawmakers are not required to provide "prior notice of the intent to enter a facility" to conduct oversight.

But in the wake of a high-profile clash between a group of Democrats and immigration officers outside a detention center in New Jersey, the Department of Homeland Security imposed new restrictions that require members of Congress and their staff to provide a week's notice for any visit. The new limits also exempt ICE field offices from the oversight law, even as federal officials have detained immigrants in cramped rooms in some of those facilities for days.

{snip}

Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/us/politics/house-democrats-ice-lawsuit.html?unlocked_article_code=1.aU8.E5nf.s72A-xs4VIy0&smid=url-share

---

Reposted by Bitch Stole My Spa Girls Hat
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social

I just filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration.

Members of Congress have the right under law to conduct oversight of federal immigration detention facilities.

See you in court, President Trump.

— Rep. Jason Crow (@crow.house.gov) 2025-07-30T17:49:19.788Z

******
Rep. Jason Crow
‪@crow.house.gov‬

Follow
I just filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration.

Members of Congress have the right under law to conduct oversight of federal immigration detention facilities.

See you in court, President Trump.

House Democrats Sue ICE for Barring Them From Detention Facilities
www.nytimes.com
July 30, 2025 at 1:49 PM
******