U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed new restrictions on congressional visits, a policy change that is likely to escalate tensions between the controversial federal law enforcement agency and its critics.
ICE detailed the policy changes in a memo published to its website. Under the new rules, ICE asserts that lawmakers must give 72 hours of advance notice before visiting an ICE field office. Lawmakers are explicitly allowed by law to visit ICE facilities that “detain or otherwise house aliens” unannounced, but the agency wants to stop surprise visits to its broader constellation of immigration enforcement centers across the country, which it claims do not meet that criteria.
The new guidance comes as Democrats clash with the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, which has targeted refugees who were offered legal status during the Biden administration, mistakenly deported a Maryland resident to a mega-prison in El Salvador, and expanded immigration raids at farms, hotels and restaurants.
The policy also states that congressional staffers must now provide 24 hours’ notice before entering a detention facility. “Visitors attempting to circumvent entry requirements may be subject to arrest or other legal action,” the agency warns.
Under its new visitation policy, the agency tries to draw a distinction between its detention facilities and field offices, the latter of which it claims aren’t used to detain people.
“ICE does not house aliens at field offices; rather these are working offices where Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) personnel process aliens to make custody determinations based on the specific circumstances of each case,” the memo argues, adding that anyone brought to a field office who needs to be detained is transferred to a purpose-built facility.
ICE operates 25 field offices across the country. According to the agency’s field office directory, the Enforcement and Removal Operations—the ICE law enforcement arm that conducts deportations—“manages all aspects of the immigration enforcement process” through those offices.
ICE clashes with elected officials are escalating
In Trump’s second term, ICE officers have not hesitated to handcuff, arrest, and even press charges against elected officials. Earlier this week, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested at a Manhattan immigration court while escorting a man sought by immigration agents. In a video of the incident, Lander is shown repeatedly asking a group of plainclothes agents if they have a judicial warrant before being wrestled against a wall and removed from the building.
In another recent confrontation, California Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a press conference when he tried to interrupt Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with a question.
On Friday, congressional Democrats sent a letter to Noem and the acting director of ICE accusing the agencies of “continued obstruction” of legal oversight visits by members of Congress. The lawmakers specifically named a Manhattan field office that normally serves as a brief stop for immigrants moving through the system, but is now reportedly overcrowded and forcing people that are detained for multiple days to sleep on the floor.
ICE’s deputy field director in New York confirmed that multiple detainees slept on the floor or on benches in the facility, an admission the group of Democrats pointed to in their letter demanding access. The lawmakers also demanded that ICE rescind its new guidance claiming that its field offices are not subject to unannounced visits by members of Congress.
“Given the overaggressive and excessive force used to handcuff and detain elected officials in public, DHS’s refusal to allow members of Congress to observe the conditions for immigrants behind closed doors begs the obvious question: What are you hiding?” the group of lawmakers wrote.
