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Today, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) released the following statement: 

“Today, after giving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 24 hours’ notice, more than is required by law, I was turned away from the ICE facility on Montana Ave. where I planned to conduct my constitutionally authorized oversight duties.

“This facility has been plagued with accusations of mistreatment and inhumane conditions falling well within the scope of my Congressional oversight authority. Recently, Amnesty International released a report detailing almost thirty pages of alleged human rights violations. For years, I have conducted oversight visits of these facilities in accordance with guidelines in the law, including last month when I toured the ICE soft-sided site in Northeast.

“Let me be clear: it is the law that no Member of Congress can be denied entry to facilities operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct oversight. The law is straightforward, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is not only blatantly breaking it herself, she is instructing local DHS staff to break it as well. The Trump administration’s continued efforts to hide federally funded facilities from oversight by breaking the law contradicts their lofty, empty promises of law, order, and transparency.”

Section 527 of the FY2024 DHS Appropriations Act can be found here:

(a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Homeland Security by this Act may be used to prevent any of the following persons from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens, or to make any temporary modification at any such facility that in any way alters what is observed by a visiting Member of Congress or such designated employee, compared to what would be observed in the absence of such modification:

(1) A Member of Congress.

(2) An employee of the United States House of Representatives or the United States Senate designated by such a Member for the purposes of this section.

(b) 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.

(c) With respect to individuals described in subsection (a)(2), the Department of Homeland Security may require that a request be made at least 24 hours in advance of an intent to enter a facility described in subsection (a).