WashingtonRep. Norma Torres (D-Pomona) and three other members of Congress were refused access to the immigrant detention facility located within the Roybal Federal Building the day after immigration sweeps started in Los Angeles.
The MPs were trying to conduct an unannounced examination, which is a standard and established procedure under the oversight authority of Congress.
On June 7, there were too many demonstrators, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, and cops used chemical agents many times.She ended up in the emergency room for respiratory treatment, Torres wrote in a subsequent letter to acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. She added that the demonstration had been nonviolent and tiny.
Torres is among the numerous Democratic members of Congress who have been refused access to immigration detention centers in recent weeks, including those from California, New York, and Illinois.
The denials represent a significant and unlawful departure from previous practice, according to James Townsend, director of Wayne State University’s Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy in Michigan.
“It is a direct attack on our system of checks and balances to deny members of Congress access to facilities,” he said. Members of Congress are currently attempting to participate in a proud, bipartisan tradition of oversight by simply showing up.
Lawmakers’ subsequent attempts to examine the Roybal Building’s inside have likewise failed.
Torres’ companion on the day of her hospitalization, Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles), returned twice more on Tuesday and June 9 but was turned away. On Wednesday, Torres and Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) made separate attempts but were both turned down.
Gomez and other Democrats have cited a federal law that has been included in annual appropriations packages since 2020 and stipulates that money cannot be used to bar a member of Congress from entering a facility run by or for the Department of Homeland Security that houses or detains aliens in any other way in order to conduct oversight.
Furthermore, according to the Act, nothing in that clause may be interpreted to compel a member of Congress to give advance notice of their intention to enter a facility in order to perform oversight. The act allows federal officials to force congressional staff to give at least 24 hours’ notice before visiting, but not members.
According to ICE guidelines released last month, politicians and their staff must give at least 72 hours’ notice, and staff personnel must give at least 24 hours’ notice.
Although the statute makes no mention of such contingencies, the agency claims it has the authority to refuse or reschedule a visit in the event of an emergency or if the facility’s safety is in doubt.
According to Gomez, an ICE representative called him on Tuesday to inform him that the downtown L.A. facility is a field office and not a detention facility, therefore the supervision statute does not apply there.
In a video that was later shared on social media, he points to a sign outside the building and states, “Well, it does say Metropolitan Detention Center right here in big, bold letters.” However, this is a processing center, they explain. I therefore smell bull.
Gomez claimed that he rhetorically questioned the official during their call, “Are they free to leave if no one is technically being detained?”
According to her staff, Torres scheduled an appointment to visit the institution in February. Due to the protests, ICE canceled the second appointment she had scheduled for last Saturday. Members did not receive a response when they emailed ICE to schedule a new appointment.
Because of the bad conditions and lack of access to attorneys due to increased arrests, which have reportedly left some inmates there overnight without beds and with little food, Gomez said he thinks ICE doesn’t want lawmakers to visit field offices.
Lawmakers have occasionally been successful in making unexpected appearances. The Adelanto ICE Processing Facility, located north of San Bernardino, was visited by Representative Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands) on Friday. Chu and four other California Democrats were admitted to the Adelanto Facility on Tuesday after being turned away on June 8.
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside), who accompanied Chu to Adelanto, stated that ICE’s use of provocative tactics to reach deportation targets is not justified simply because they have opened their doors to a small number of members of Congress. Accountability entails being accessible on a regular basis rather than just occasionally.
The representatives discovered that the number of detainees at the facility had increased from 300 a month ago to 1,100 at full capacity. Chu claimed that they had spoken with detainees from the L.A. raids, who she said were not criminals and were currently living inhumanely without enough food, unable to phone their family and attorneys, or change their undergarments for ten days.
Chu claimed that in order to prevent a recurrence of their first attempt, in which facility guards locked a fence to keep the group off the site, the group arrived early and stood in the lobby.
Members of Congress are invited to do oversight, but they must first make arrangements with the facility, according to Trump’s main border policy advisor Tom Homan, who made this statement in an interview with The Times this month. He stated that the agency must ensure the facility, police, and inmates are safe and secure.
He said, “Please go in and look at them.” They have the best detention standards in the business and the best facilities money can buy. However, there are two correct and incorrect ways to do it.
In an interview with The Times, Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin stated that the necessity for visits stems from an increase in attacks, disturbances, and impediments to compliance, particularly by politicians.
She went on to say that requests for visits should be made at least once a week to avoid interfering with the president’s authority to supervise executive branch operations under Article II of the Constitution.
The House Homeland Security Committee’s ranking member, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), criticized the X advice on Wednesday.
“ICE offices around the country are holding migrants and occasionally even U.S. citizens for days at a time, and this illegal policy is a smokescreen to deny Member visits,” he wrote. Since they are facilities, they are always open to supervision and examination. DHS’s latest lie is that they are acting differently.
According to Townsend, an expert in congressional oversight, the practice dates back to President Truman’s time as a senator, when he formed a committee to look into issues among contractors providing support for the World War II effort.
According to Townsend, that group made hundreds of field visits and frequently arrived without warning.
More recently, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) claimed that Department of Defense officials had blocked his request for entry to the Pentagon in 1983, so he traveled there to raise questions about excessive expenditure.
According to Townsend, the Supreme Court has construed the Constitution to grant Congress broad powers to carry out oversight and make surprise appearances in order to obtain factual information.
The Trump administration is attempting to conceal the truth from the public, according to Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.). Padilla was detained, pushed to the ground, and pushed out of a press conference last week after trying to confront Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
During a tearful floor speech on Wednesday, he recalled the incident and stated, “The Trump administration has done everything in their power but to provide transparency to the American people about their mission in Los Angeles.”
McLaughlin charged Democratic lawmakers with exploiting oversight as a pretext to pull PR stunts in an interview with Newsmax on Wednesday.
She claimed that the Democrats were in shock. They are doing this to garner more attention and create viral moments because they have no real message.
To ensure that his identity was unmistakable, Gomez wore a suit jacket on Tuesday, sported a congressional lapel pin, and held his congressional ID card and business card in his palm. He expressed his worry that he would experience the same fate as Padilla. Still, he was refused entry.
Gomez stated that every time federal officials refuse members of Congress oversight access, they ought to be penalized. According to him, he and other members are debating whether to bring legal action to force access.
The government is essentially asking, “What recourse do you have?” when it operates outside the legislation. Can you make us? You haven’t got an army. “You don’t have to listen to us,” Gomez stated. Then you have to put some real teeth into it.
This report was written by Nathan Solis, a staff writer for the Times in Los Angeles.
