WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Democratic members of Congress have accused the Department of Homeland Security of defying a federal court order after DHS announced a newly revived policy requiring lawmakers to give a week's notice before conducting oversight visits to ICE facilities.
Although the policy was circulated internally Jan. 8, DHS first disclosed it publicly in court filings Saturday after enforcement of the rule resulted in Reps. Angie Craig, D-Minn., Kelly Morrison, D-Minn., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., being denied access to a federal detention facility near the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis.
Craig spoke to Medill News Service about her experience that day.
"Ms. Morrison, Omar and I were the first three members whose jobs were impacted. We were not able to perform our duty as members of Congress to inspect that federal facility," Craig said.
She said she and the other representatives were told at the ICE facility that because the money being used to operate the facility comes from the One Big Beautiful Bill, not through the appropriations act, the congresswomen were not allowed in.
