ICE detention facilities

Judge says Trump administration must let lawmakers make unannounced visits to ICE detention facilities

The Department of Homeland Security had implemented a one-week notice for lawmakers’ visits.

By Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein

A federal judge ruled Monday that the Department of Homeland Security likely broke the law when it barred members of Congress from visiting immigrant detention facilities without a week’s notice.

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb found that in crafting and enforcing the one-week-notice policy, the department relied on funds that Congress specifically forbade from being used to deny lawmakers access to those facilities.

The ruling applies to 13 Democratic members of Congress who have joined a lawsuit filed last year, challenging limits on their ability to visit locations where Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains people facing deportation proceedings.

The judge’s action comes several weeks after three Democratic lawmakers were blocked from visiting the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis to survey conditions amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation surge in the Twin Cities.

In December, Cobb blocked an earlier version of the DHS policy, concluding that it ran afoul of a longstanding appropriations rider — dubbed “Section 527” — that effectively requires DHS to give lawmakers unimpeded access to detention facilities. She emphasized that the policy was intended to ensure that lawmakers could make timely visits to facilities whose populations often spike and decline with little notice.

However, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued a directive last month reimposing the advance-notice policy and claiming that it would be enforced solely with funding from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” passed in July, which lacks the same requirements for unfettered access.

However, Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) and a dozen House Democratic colleagues argued that it would be virtually impossible for DHS to segregate funds that way — and that in fact DHS officials had not done a proper accounting to show that it could be done. Cobb agreed.

“The Court notes that it finds compelling Plaintiffs’ argument — one not presently disputed by Defendants — that at least some of these resources that either have been or will be used to promulgate and enforce the notice policy have already been funded and paid for with Section 527-restricted annual appropriations funds, including pursuant to contracts or agreements that predate the” Big Beautiful Bill law, wrote Cobb, a Biden appointee.

Although DHS’ annual appropriations lapsed on Saturday and Democrats are insisting on new limits to ICE enforcement before agreeing to more funds, Cobb said her ruling would remain in effect because it is predicated on funds DHS appears to have already spent to develop the policy.

Spokespeople for DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Neguse and lawyers representing the House members welcomed Cobb’s decision and condemned the administration’s policy as an attempt to obscure the harsh detention conditions for immigrants swept up in the ongoing crackdown.

“The Court’s decision today to grant a temporary restraining order against ICE’s unlawful effort to obstruct congressional oversight is a victory for the American people. We will keep fighting to ensure the rule of law prevails,” Neguse said.