Trump’s DHS tightens the reins of democratic visits to “surveillance” in detention centers

The Ministry of Internal Security (DHS) has published new guidelines for Congress members who wish to visit the federal immigration detention facilities.

Directives arise while Democratic legislators have started to visit immigration and customs’ application (ICE) facilities in the midst of Trump’s deportation efforts, several were refused this week in immigration detention establishments in New York and Illinois.

Below New advice, Who is dated this month, members of the Congress wishing to visit an ICE installation are invited to inform the agency at least 72 hours in advance, in addition to the existing requirements which oblige members of the staff of the Chamber or the Senate to provide a notice of 24 hours before their visits also.

The White House exploded the DEMS line by attacking the installation of ice

Directives arise while Democratic legislators have started to visit immigration and customs’ application (ICE) facilities in the midst of Trump’s deportation efforts, several were refused this week in immigration detention establishments in New York and Illinois. (Getty Images / Chip Somodevilla / Gilbert Flores)

In the midst of the efforts of the Trump administration to strengthen border security and expel illegal immigrants residing in the United States, the members of the congress presented themselves in federal immigration facilities by saying that they were there to carry out their legally authorized surveillance obligations.

“We went to the legitimate surveillance of the Congress – to do our job and ask for answers to our voters,” said the representative Lamonica McIiver after she, two other members of the Congress and a local mayor, presented himself in a detention center in New Jersey last month, which led to the stop and the prohibition of MCIVER, DN.J.

The visit of McIiver in May alongside Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka and two other members of the Congress was followed by other visits to Democratic leaders in immigration facilities across the country. This week, at least two separate efforts to enter ICE facilities by a group of democratic officials have been refused.

The mayor of Dem arrested for intrusion to Ice Facility Floated as a choice for office n ° 2

Representative Lamonica McIiver, DN.J., leaves the land of Delancey Hall Ice’s detention prison on Friday May 9 in Newark, New Jersey. (AP / Angelina Katsanis)

The new DHS directives note that if the members of the Congress have the statutory right to make unexpected visits to the ICE holding facilities for surveillance purposes, he said that the ice offices “fall” from this statutory authority.

The directives also specify that the ice “retains the unique and invisible discretion to refuse a request or cancel, reprogram or terminate a visit or visit” if “the management of the facilities or other managers of the ice judge the appropriate.”

“The ice will do everything possible to comply with the law and accommodate members seeking to visit / visit an ice detention center in order to carry out surveillance, but demanding circumstances (for example, operational conditions, safety posture, etc.) may have an impact at the time of entry into the establishment,” said guidelines. “Anyway, the members must comply with the entry requirements.”

The anti-ice demonstrators gather outside the detention center for illegal immigrants in New Jersey

Police are patrolling Delary Hall outside immigrants in Newark, NJ, on May 13, 2025. (Stephanie Keith for Fox News Digital)

The directives indicate that any person captured by trying to bypass the entry requirements can be stopped.

Another notable part of the directives includes the prohibition of registration of introductory systems in federal detention establishments. The advice also defines parameters on how visitors can and cannot interact with people detained in ice facilities, as well as with ice officers themselves.

The decision to approve or deny the requests is ultimately a matter of application and dismissal operations (ERO) responsible for the installation that a visitor wishes to enter, indicates guidance.

For installations which house immigrant detainees, but which are not only an installation of ice or DHS, the guidelines indicate that “as entrepreneurs”, these installations “cannot speak on behalf of the government” and “only ice personnel is authorized to make visits for facilities that shelter ice prisoners”. The directives added that the members of the Congress, or their staff, trying to enter the facilities belonging to the prison office (BOP) which hold immigration prisoners must follow the BOP protocols which generally require five to seven working days of notice to coordinate the visit.

Click here to obtain the Fox News app

“As ice forces have seen an increase in aggressions, disturbances and obstructions to application, including by politicians themselves, all requests for tour and offices on the ground must be approved by the Secretary for Homeland Security.

“With regard to visits to detention facilities, requests must be made with enough time to prevent interference with the authority of the president of Article II to supervise the functions of the Executive Ministry – a week is sufficient to guarantee any intrusion into the constitutional authority of the President,” said McLaughlin. “To protect the authority of the president of Article II, any request for shortening that time must be approved by the secretary.”