U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has revealed a new policy that makes it more difficult for members of Congress to make oversight visits to ICE facilities, requiring seven days’ advance notice.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said ICE needs the time to ensure there is “adequate protection” for the lawmakers and their staff, ICE employees and the detainees themselves. She also complained of “circus-like publicity stunts” she said have made some visits “chaotic.”
The new policy has already been implemented, with Rep. Ilhan Omar and several Democratic House colleagues saying this weekend they were denied entry to an ICE facility in Minnesota.
Ms. Noem’s move represents a challenge to U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, who last month ruled that the current spending law governing much of ICE’s operations required members of Congress to have access to all facilities.
In a memo dated Jan. 8 and supplied to Judge Cobb on Saturday, Ms. Noem said she disagreed with that ruling.
But she said Judge Cobb had made clear that the law requiring congressional access only applied to ICE operations paid for under the current stopgap spending bill, or continuing resolution. Ms. Noem said there’s other money now available to ICE from last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act budget law, and it is not bound by the congressional access provisions.
“Given the extent of the funding made available to ICE through the OBBBA, I anticipate that there is more than sufficient funding available for the limited expenses associated with implementing and enforcing these policies,” the Homeland Security secretary said.
Access to ICE has been a major demand of Congress dating back to the first Trump administration. Since then, lawmakers have tucked language in spending bills requiring unfettered access for themselves.
Ms. Noem suggested that some lawmakers are abusing that special access, citing “an increasing trend of replacing legitimate oversight activities with circus-like publicity stunts.”
A visit by several Democratic House members to a facility in New Jersey last spring turned into a shoving match, resulting in Rep. LaMonica McIver facing charges of assaulting federal officers. She has pled not guilty. A judge last week rebuffed an attempt to have the charges dismissed.
Ms. Omar told reporters on Saturday that she and fellow Democrats were initially allowed into the ICE facility but shortly later they were told they had to leave.
“What happened today is a blatant attempt to obstruct members of Congress from doing their oversight duties,” she said.
