A dozen House Democrats who were barred from visiting immigration detention facilities sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, arguing that a new policy imposed by the Department of Homeland Security to limit lawmakers’ access was an illegal infringement on their ability to conduct congressional oversight.
Over the last few months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities have become the battleground in a political showdown between federal officials and Democratic lawmakers over the White House’s sweeping crackdown on immigration and the constitutional separation of powers.
Under the federal law that funds ICE, the agency cannot prevent members of Congress or their employees from making oversight visits to immigration facilities that “detain or otherwise house aliens.” Lawmakers are not required to provide “prior notice of the intent to enter a facility” to conduct oversight.
But in the wake of a high-profile clash between a group of Democrats and immigration officers outside a detention center in New Jersey, the Department of Homeland Security imposed new restrictions that require members of Congress and their staff to provide a week’s notice for any visit. The new limits also exempt ICE field offices from the oversight law, even as federal officials have detained immigrants in cramped rooms in some of those facilities for days.
Since the new guidelines were imposed, members of Congress have stepped up their efforts to gain access to ICE facilities, including field offices, that they say they have been trying to visit because of reports of inhumane and unsanitary conditions.
The 12 Democrats who filed the lawsuit all tried to visit immigration facilities in June or July and were turned away, according to the lawsuit, which was obtained by The New York Times.
The plaintiffs include Representatives Joe Neguse of Colorado, the assistant Democratic leader; Adriano Espaillat of New York, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrats on the Homeland Security, Judiciary and Oversight committees. The suit was brought in conjunction with Democracy Forward, a left-leaning nonprofit legal organization.
“Blocking members of Congress from oversight visits to ICE facilities that house or otherwise detain immigrants clearly violates federal law — and the Trump administration knows it,” Mr. Neguse, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement.
According to the lawsuit, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Neguse and Mr. Raskin were turned away from a field office in Chantilly, Va., 24 miles west of the Capitol and not in any of their districts, even after immigration officials confirmed the office was “holding, and routinely held,” undocumented immigrants.
That encounter took place last Monday and was among several visits in the period immediately leading up to the filing of the lawsuit.
Others date back to the start of June. Representative Norma J. Torres of California was denied access to ICE facilities on three occasions, according to the lawsuit, which also said that her ability to speak to detainees or tour ICE facilities was restricted on two other visits.
The Democrats are seeking to have the new ICE guidance on congressional visits dismissed. But federal officials have said that they are within their rights to impose the new limits in order to protect President Trump’s constitutional authority to carry out immigration policy and to ensure safety and security of detained immigrants and ICE employees.
They have pointed in particular to the conflict in New Jersey in May, when a chaotic skirmish broke out as three House Democrats were making an oversight visit to Delaney Hall, a detention center outside Newark.
Federal officials later charged Representative LaMonica McIver of New Jersey, a first-term Democrat, with assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with federal officials.
Ms. McIver has pleaded not guilty and called the charges an act of “political intimidation.” She is not one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which also includes Representatives Lou Correa, Jimmy Gomez and Raul Ruiz of California; Veronica Escobar of Texas; Jason Crow of Colorado; and Dan Goldman of New York.
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
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