from the trump-2.0-settings-applied dept
This was never an issue before, but it’s suddenly an issue now that ICE has gone full Gestapo to keep up with Trump’s mass deportation demands. ICE’s tactics — unmarked vehicles, masked officers, and untargeted raids of any place that might contain foreigners — have earned it all the criticism and hatred it now faces.
The DHS is trotting out fake stats to justify ICE officers’ actions and President Trump has gotten busy sending military troops to police city streets. ICE has decided to join the general lawlessness of Trump’s second term by not only refusing to allow US lawmakers to perform their oversight duties, but serving up arrests and bogus criminal charges when members of Congress demand access to detention facilities.
These intimidation tactics haven’t worked. In fact, they’ve backfired. So, in an effort to snatch victory from defeat, ICE has decided it no longer needs to respect the law when it comes to Congressional oversight.
After a spate of tense encounters involving lawmakers at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, the Department of Homeland Security is asking members of Congress to provide 72 hours of notice before visiting detention centers, according to new guidance.
Under the annual appropriations act, lawmakers are allowed to enter any DHS facilities “used to detain or otherwise house aliens” to inspect them as part of their oversight duties. The act outlines that they are not required “to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility.”
ICE knows what the law says. And it knows it can’t actually demand prior notice before detention facility inspections. Its new “guidance” [PDF] actually contains a full quotation of the law it says it can break, which says this:
Nothing in this section may be construed to require a Member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility described in subsection (a) for the purpose of conducting oversight.
Subsection (a) refers to detention facilities. The only people that can be asked to give prior notice are Congressional staffers. Representatives and senators are not required to give ICE a head’s up.
Nevertheless, ICE is attempting to install just such a requirement, no matter what the law actually says.
When planning to visit an ICE facility, ICE asks requests to be submitted at least 72 hours in advance.
ICE can “ask” all it wants, but it certainly is in no legal position to demand this request be honored. So, that part of this guidance can be ignored, even by Congressional staffers, who are only required (by law) to give 24 hours notice.
ICE cannot actually enforce this request but presumably has placed it towards the top of its new guidance in hopes that it might trick a few people into submitting requests, rather than just exercising their legal rights. And it probably hopes no one reads past that paragraph, because it admits it has no right to make this demand latter in the memo.
ICE will make every effort to comply with the law and accommodate Members seeking to visit/tour an ICE detention facility for the purpose of conducting oversight, but exigent circumstances (e.g., operational conditions, security posture, etc.) may impact the time of entry into the facility. Regardless, Members must comply with entry requirements.
There’s ICE claiming it will comply with the law before adding a bunch of stuff that will give it the excuses it needs to avoid this legal mandate. Law enforcement agencies love their “exigent circumstances,” which are mostly just universal adapters for rights violations.
Of course, those expected to be affected most by ICE’s little policy dodge see right through this new DHS guidance. Here’s Bennie Thompson (D-MS) calling bullshit on this memo:
Kristi Noem’s new policy to block congressional oversight of ICE facilities is not only unprecedented, it is an affront to the Constitution and Federal law. Noem is now not only attempting to restrict when Members can visit, but completely blocking access to ICE Field Offices – even if Members schedule visits in advance. No matter how much she and Trump want to force us to live under their authoritarian rule, ICE is not above oversight and the Department must follow the law.
Thompson isn’t wrong. No matter what ICE/DHS might “request” in terms of facility oversight, the law is still the law. And since ICE has yet to allow an unannounced inspection without trying to serve up some collateral arrests, these confrontations will continue for as long as Trump remains in power.
Filed Under: accountability, detention facilities, dhs, ice, mass deportation, oversight
