Lawmakers say Noem is still illegally blocking ICE facility oversight

Democratic lawmakers say that the Trump administration is continuing to illegally block congressional oversight of immigration enforcement facilities after three Minnesota congresswomen were denied entry to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. 

Now, they’re challenging that policy in court.

A dozen House Democrats asked a judge Monday to force the federal government to explain how a new policy from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem doesn’t violate a previous court order.

The lawmakers sued last summer after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) repeatedly prevented them from conducting oversight at ICE detention facilities amid accusations of inhumane and unsanitary conditions.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Mia Cobb, who is presiding over the lawsuit, temporarily stopped DHS from hamstringing members of Congress’s oversight efforts by requiring them to give at least seven days’ notice before they visit its facilities.

The judge found that the notice requirements likely violated federal appropriations law, which prohibits DHS and its sub-agencies from using funds to deny members of Congress access to “any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens” when they are conducting oversight. 

Then, last week, Noem quietly issued a new memo that once again claimed to require lawmakers to request visits seven days in advance.

Noem asserted that her new policy, though nearly identical to DHS’s previous notice requirements, was permissible under Cobb’s stay because it was being enforced with funding from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which she claimed was not subject to traditional appropriations requirements.

The new rule only came to light after three Minnesota Democrats — Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison — were denied entry while attempting to conduct oversight on an ICE facility outside of Minneapolis. 

The lawmakers attempted to visit the facility after an ICE officer killed Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good amid the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement operation in the city.

“Members of Congress have a legal right and constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight where people are being detained,” Omar said Saturday after she was denied entry. “The public deserves to know what is taking place in ICE facilities.”

Monday, the 12 House Democrats, who are represented by Democracy Forward*, asked Cobb in a court filing to request a written explanation from the Trump administration on how the duplicate notice policy doesn’t violate her previous order. They also requested a hearing over the matter “at the Court’s earliest convenience.”

“The law is crystal-clear: the Trump administration can’t block Members of Congress from conducting real-time oversight of immigration detention facilities,” Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), one of the lawmakers involved in the suit, said on social media Monday.

“Instead of complying with the law, DHS is subverting the court’s order by re-imposing the same unlawful policy,” he added.

In a statement, Democracy Forward’s President Skye Perryman denounced the new policy as an unlawful attempt to “circumvent” court orders.

“This threat to the rule of law and our system of checks and balances should concern every single American,” Perryman said. “What are they hiding? Why does the Trump-Vance administration continue to implement policies to block members of Congress – who represent the people and have legal obligations to conduct oversight – from accessing ICE facilities?” 

“The answer has become more and more clear: What ICE is doing is harmful and indefensible, and this administration does not want checks and balances,” she added.

In the days since Good’s killing, the Trump administration has launched a full-court press to defend ICE’s actions. Administration officials have falsely characterized Good as a domestic terrorist who “weaponized her vehicle” against immigration officers and described the confrontation that led to her shooting as “the attack in Minneapolis.” 

That resistance to accountability has spilled over into other aspects of DHS’s work. 

In the memo issuing the new ICE facility guidance, Secretary Noem mocked Congress’ constitutional authority to conduct oversight, describing recent attempts to visit the facilities as “circus-like publicity stunts.”

*Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias is the chair of Democracy Forward’s board.