The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has implemented new rules regarding congressional visits to detention facilities, particularly after some confrontational interactions with Democratic lawmakers.
While members of Congress can legally visit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities unannounced, new guidance from ICE suggests they should provide a 72-hour notice for visits, and staff should notify the agency 24 hours in advance.
Although lawmakers still have the right to make unannounced visits, these new policies could restrict access to some locations where important actions occur.
Rep. Benny Thompson (D-Miss.) criticized the new policy, describing it as unprecedented and a violation of constitutional rights. He claimed it not only limits visit times but effectively blocks access to ICE field offices, asserting that the Trump administration aims to impose authoritarian control. He insisted that the department is obligated to adhere to the law, and that ICE’s monitoring practices should not exceed legal bounds.
Thompson went on to call the policy a “smokescreen” that undermines members’ visits to facilities holding immigrants, sometimes including U.S. citizens, thereby obscuring their realities.
A recent visit by Democratic lawmakers led to altercations with DHS representatives. A group of New Jersey Democrats attempted to enter Delaney Hall detention center along with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka but faced issues with DHS agents, leading to Baraka’s arrest for trespassing. Although the charges were dropped swiftly, Rep. Ramonica McQuiver (D-N.J.) faced accusations of assaulting law enforcement during the incident, with serious potential consequences if convicted.
In a separate incident, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) faced handcuffing after he interrupted a press conference held by Noem in Los Angeles due to ongoing anti-ICE demonstrations.
DHS has yet to respond to inquiries about these developments.
The new guidelines impose additional restrictions on congressional visits to ICE facilities. For instance, limitations may be placed on group sizes and visit itineraries to minimize operational disruption. Smaller facilities may also impose further restrictions on group sizes.
The guidance specifies that lawmakers need to provide a list of detainees they wish to interact with, along with 48-hour notice so that ICE can arrange sign-up sheets for those meetings. Moreover, meetings with detainees will not be facilitated without a signed privacy release, necessitating lawmakers to submit their names, alien registration numbers, and valid releases for such requests.
Photography and video recording within ICE facilities have also been prohibited. While the guidance cites privacy as a primary concern, it is noted that the Trump administration has publicly shared images of detained immigrants and related events in the past.
Thompson has argued that these new restrictions appear to be designed to obscure the detrimental effects of Trump’s policies and the realities of detention conditions. He emphasized the lack of lawful justification for restricting access to ICE facilities and pointed out that if ICE operates transparently, there should be no barriers to access.
