A federal court in Washington, D.C., has stepped in to halt the Trump administration’s effort to restrict lawmakers’ access to immigration detention centers, dealing an early setback to new ICE visitation rules.
In a ruling issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement likely lacks the legal authority to require members of Congress to give seven days’ notice before entering detention facilities to observe conditions.
Cobb, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, said the notice requirement appears to go beyond what Congress authorized the Department of Homeland Security to enforce.
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“Plaintiffs have an interest in facts about whether facilities are overcrowded or unsanitary, whether the staff is engaging in abuse, or the location of constituents or their family members,” the judge wrote.
The case was filed in July by twelve Democratic lawmakers who said they were turned away from ICE facilities after the agency revised its visitor policies. In addition to the notice requirement, they challenged a separate rule that excludes ICE field offices from the locations lawmakers can enter without prior approval. The lawsuit accused President Donald Trump’s administration of interfering with congressional oversight as immigration enforcement intensified nationwide.
Lawyers for the government argued that the lawmakers lacked standing to sue and claimed it was speculative to suggest detention conditions could meaningfully change over the course of a week. Cobb dismissed both arguments.
“The changing conditions within ICE facilities means that it is likely impossible for a Member of Congress to reconstruct the conditions at a facility on the day that they initially sought to enter,” Cobb wrote.
The ruling temporarily blocks enforcement of the policies while the legal challenge continues, AP reported.
