ICE Can’t Give Congress the Cold Shoulder

This week, courts affirmed again that Congress has a constitutional right to conduct oversight of immigration detention centers. We’re representing the lawmakers fighting for their right to access and inspect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities, with Democracy Forward.

In December, the court ruled that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cannot block members of Congress from investigating conditions at ICE detention centers. But last month, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem quietly reinstated a policy barring members’ unannounced inspections of the facilities. When DHS tried to block lawmakers from conducting oversight of a detention facility in Minnesota, we returned to court and filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order to stop the obstruction.

The court granted our motion this week, again upholding Congress’ right to unannounced visits to ICE facilities to conduct oversight. This oversight is especially important now, amid record immigration detention highs and reports of neglect, abuse, and homicide within ICE facilities.

“By restoring Congress’s statutory right to conduct unannounced inspections, the court has made clear that no administration is above the law, and that the human consequences of detention cannot be hidden from public view,” our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said.

So many Epstein files, so many unanswered questions

Many powerful people were identified in connection to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein this week, in the newest Department of Justice (DOJ) release of the Epstein files. But the Trump administration is still trying to scrub details about the president’s involvement in our lawsuit seeking records from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s review of Jeffrey Epstein files, and in our lawsuit for interviews with Trump in the government’s investigation of Epstein.

The government’s effort to delete information from our lawsuits is a brazen attempt to hide information from the public, and we’re fighting back. The public has a right to know if the president was interviewed as part of the federal inquiry, and if he intervened in the review of the files.

American Oversight in the news

• Judge sides with Democrats against Trump, nixing latest limits on lawmakers’ access to ICE facilities (The Hill)
• Federal judge says Trump administration must allow ICE facility visits (El Paso Times)

Other stories we’re following

• Trump’s call to ‘nationalize’ elections adds to state officials’ alarm (New York Times)
• Trump administration to make it easier to fire 50,000 federal workers (Wall Street Journal)
• HHS is using AI tools from Palantir to target ‘DEI’ and ‘gender ideology’ in grants (Wired)
• Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard’s office obtained and tested voting machines in Puerto Rico (CNN)
• Secretary Rubio gives up role as acting US Archivist (New York Times)