Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem last week quietly issued an order outlining new restrictions on congressional oversight visits at immigration detention centers, after a similar directive was previously struck down by a federal judge in December.
The new memo, released Jan. 8 and made public over the weekend as part of a court case brought by Rep. Joe Neguse and other Democratic lawmakers, orders that immigration agents deny lawmakers access to Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities unless they submit a request seven days in advance of their visit. Prior to this notice, members of Congress were supposed to be given unrestricted access to federal detention facilities as part of their oversight duties.
The new memo differs from the directive issued by Noem in 2025 in one key way: it orders congressional visits be carried out “exclusively with money appropriated by the (One Big Beautiful Bill Act).”
In the memo, Noem argued that funds from Trump’s signature domestic policy “are not subject to Section 527’s limitations,” a reference to the federal statute granting members of Congress access to detention facilities for oversight purposes.
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The policy was issued one day after an immigration officer shot and killed a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis. It also appears to explain a heated incident over the weekend in which Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison tried to conduct an oversight visit at an ICE detention center but were denied entry.
In an interview following their attempted visit to an ICE detention center, Morrison said the group was initially allowed entrance “and then very abruptly were told to leave.”
Craig told MS NOW that the group provided the December ruling to ICE officials as evidence of their permission to enter but were rejected, with officials arguing that funding for the facility was provided by the so-called “one big, beautiful bill.”
Omar, in a post to X on Saturday, said: “The public deserves to know what is taking place in ICE facilities.”
On Friday, Omar wrote a letter, cosigned by more than 150 members of Congress, to DHS with a list of investigative questions pertaining to the ICE-involved shooting of Renée Good in Minneapolis. Separately, a group of Democrats signed on to Rep. Robin Kelly’s three articles of impeachment against Noem.
The DHS secretary, in the new memo, also argued the policy requiring notice for congressional visits is necessary, citing lawmakers’ tendency for “circus-like publicity stunts.”
“Unannounced visits require pulling ICE officers away from their normal duties,” Noem’s Jan. 8 memo continued. “Moreover, there is an increasing trend of replacing legitimate oversight activities with circus-like publicity stunts, all of which creates a chaotic environment with heightened emotions.”
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