Judge, for now, lets DHS keep seven-day notice rule for congressional ICE visits

A federal judge in Washington on Monday declined to immediately block the Department of Homeland Security from requiring lawmakers to give seven days’ notice before visiting immigration detention facilities, allowing the policy to remain in place for now, Judge Jia M. Cobb of the U.S.

District Court for the District of Columbia wrote. Judge Cobb did not rule that the policy itself is lawful, but said the group of Democratic lawmakers who sued would need to revise their complaint to directly address the administration’s latest rationale. She had blocked an essentially identical policy in December after citing an appropriations provision that requires facilities to be open to congressional oversight.

The administration reintroduced the rule this month, saying funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — President Trump’s domestic policy law — could pay for detention operations rather than the annual appropriations the judge had relied on. At an emergency hearing, a Justice Department lawyer pointed to a DHS financial officer’s sworn statement that the new funding covered detention operations; lawmakers’ lawyers called the switch a legal sleight of hand and said it was used to deny Representatives Angie Craig, Ilhan Omar and Kelly Morrison entry to a Minneapolis facility on Jan.

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Key Topics

Politics, Dhs, Jia M. Cobb, Immigration Detention, Appropriations Law, Ilhan Omar