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Democrats are stepping up and taking on the Trump administration’s illegal actions.
House Judiciary Committee Democrats announced:
Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, joined a dozen individual members of the U.S. House of Representatives in suing the Trump-Vance Administration, challenging its unlawful obstruction of congressional oversight that the members have sought to conduct at federal immigration detention facilities, in which both citizens and noncitizens have been detained without due process.
The Administration has implemented a new, unlawful policy that blocks these Members of Congress from obtaining the information necessary to perform their constitutional duty to ensure the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is complying with federal law in operating these facilities and to oversee how billions in taxpayer dollars are being spent. The Administration is mandating a seven-day waiting period and prohibiting access to field offices where people are being detained, despite a federal law that prevents these restrictions.
The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia demands that the Administration comply with a federal law that guarantees Members of Congress the right to conduct oversight visits to any DHS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sites where noncitizens are detained without prior notice.
Other plaintiffs include Assistant Democratic Leader Joe Neguse; Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Rep. Adriano Espaillat; Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Rep. Bennie G. Thompson; House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia; House Homeland Security Committee Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement Ranking Member Rep. J. Luis Correa; Rep. Jason Crow; Rep. Veronica Escobar; Rep. Dan Goldman; Rep. Jimmy Gomez; Rep. Raul Ruiz; and Rep. Norma Torres.
At a time when the Administration is detaining more individuals than ever before—over 58,000 people—and reports of mistreatment, overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and the detention of U.S. citizens are growing, the need for real-time, on-the-ground oversight has never been more urgent. Eleven people have died in immigration custody in the first six months of this Administration. DHS’s recent mass layoffs of internal oversight personnel only deepen the concerns about this conduct and possible abuse.
At a time when private citizens are intervening to stop ICE from grabbing and detaining people off the streets, it is vital that members of Congress have access to immigration facilities.