The Department of Homeland Security has again required members of Congress to give prior notice before inspecting immigration detention facilities, issuing a new policy to bypass a court order that had blocked officials from restricting such oversight visits.
The new policy, dated Jan. 8 and submitted Saturday in federal court, says members of Congress need to schedule any visits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities 7 days in advance. Any exemptions to the rule have to be approved by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who signed the new memo.
Over the weekend, Democratic Minnesota Representatives Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison said they were denied entry into an ICE facility in Minneapolis. Tensions there have escalated after an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good on Wednesday. Trump administration officials have said the officer acted in self-defense, a claim rejected by local leaders.
In December, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. blocked an identical DHS policy that required members of Congress to submit requests at least 7 days in advance of visiting facilities holding those facing deportation in ICE custody. Before that policy, issued in June, ICE had historically allowed members of Congress to visit its detention facilities, without prior notice.
The December court ruling cited language in appropriations law that prohibits DHS from using funds to prevent members of Congress from conducting oversight visits to ICE detention centers, or from requiring those lawmakers to “provide prior notice of the intent to enter” such facilities.
But in her new memo, Noem ordered DHS to again implement the 7-day notice requirement “exclusively with money appropriated by the (One Big Beautiful Bill Act),” not regular appropriations.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law over the summer, provided an unprecedented infusion of funding for immigration enforcement, including $75 billion to ICE alone to bolster deportation efforts and expand detention capacity.
Noem said the policy is needed to protect lawmakers, their staff, ICE detainees and employees.
“Unannounced visits require pulling ICE officers away from their normal duties,” she wrote in the memo. “Moreover, there is an increasing trend of replacing legitimate oversight activities with circus-like publicity stunts, all of which creates a chaotic environment with heightened emotions.”
