Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it can no longer provide congressional access to its detention facilities for oversight visits because of the government shutdown.
Democrat lawmakers filed a lawsuit in July against ICE over access to real-time inspections of detention facilities and new guidelines requiring at least seven days' advance notice for visits.
In an Oct. 21 filing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., Brett Shumate, principal deputy assistant attorney general, said ICE lacks the staff and funding to support such visits.
The lawsuit, led by Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., cited a section of the 2024 fiscal year spending law. That provision, extended through the continuing resolution for fiscal 2025, bars the use of federal funds to block lawmakers or their staff from entering immigration detention facilities for oversight.
But Shumate wrote the provision expired Oct. 1 with the spending law and that ongoing spending is "not subject to the expired general provision known as Section 527."
"ICE is no longer funding the operation of its detention facilities [including the adoption and implementation of the congressional visitation protocols at issue in this action] with any funds that were appropriated subject to Section 527," Shumate wrote.
"ICE is incurring obligations in advance of fiscal 2026 appropriations, and those obligations are not subject to the expired general provision known as Section 527.
"Additionally, certain ICE operations during this lapse in appropriations are being funded by appropriations made through the OBBB [One Big Beautiful Bill Act]."
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee, is weighing a request to temporarily block the new Department of Homeland Security guidance on lawmaker visits tied to Section 527. At a hearing, Cobb asked whether the case would be moot with a lapse of government funding.
Oversight visits to ICE facilities have long been a flash point between Democrats and the Trump administration. Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was charged with two felonies after a confrontation during a visit to an ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey, earlier this year. McIver pleaded not guilty, and the case remains pending.
Some of the first public denials of access to ICE facilities came during violent protests in Los Angeles against ICE enforcement and removal operations in June. Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., and other members tried to inspect a facility but were rebuffed repeatedly.
Torres said federal authorities used chemical agents on protesters outside, including her, other members of Congress, and staff.
Tricia McLaughlin, DHS' assistant secretary for public affairs, acknowledged the shutdown's impact on lawmaker visits and blamed Democrats.
"While the Democrats may not care about shutting down the government and making millions of public servants go without a paycheck, maybe they will get back to work now that they have lost the precious appropriations rider they rely on to try to storm ICE facilities," McLaughlin said, according to Politico.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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