Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Levin (CA-49)
In New Letter, Rep. Levin Leads 77 House Democrats in Fight Against ICE’s New Policies to Limit Interactions with Detainees
Washington, D.C.—Today, Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49) led 77 House colleagues in a letter to ICE’s Acting Director David Venturella demanding ICE reverse new policies that would restrict congressional oversight visits and interactions with detainees.
On May 11, Reps. Levin and Sara Jacobs (CA-51) made an unannounced oversight visit to the Otay Mesa Detention Center where they were handed ICE’s new internal policy memorandum, “Restoring Order and Integrity to Congressional Visits to Detention Facilities.” It outlines new policies that require members of Congress to give ICE two business days of advance notice to meet with detainees. It also requires members of Congress to have detainees’ signed consent to meet with them. These new requirements are designed to hinder members from conducting comprehensive oversight.
The letter raises serious concerns with the new restrictions on congressional oversight visits and demands that members of Congress have the option to speak with detainees without providing advance notice.
Read the letter here and below:
Dear Acting Director Venturella,
We write to express our concern with the changes outlined under the recent internal policy memorandum, “Restoring Order and Integrity to Congressional Visits to Detention Facilities,” which limits meetings between members of Congress and individuals in detention.
The memorandum outlines that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has “provided a historic level of access to its facilities,” with over 350 congressional visits coordinated since the beginning of the Trump Administration in January 2025. The need for historic levels of access to facilities is a direct product of historic levels of reports regarding the mistreatment of detainees, deaths in custody, inadequate conditions within facilities, and limited or inconsistent resources for detainees.
It is clear Congress must conduct constant oversight. The right to inspect these detention facilities without advance notice was recently reaffirmed in Neguse et al. v. U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement et al. Yet, this Administration has enabled a revolving door of arbitrary policies, directives, and guidance on member access to facilities or on communication with detainees designed to hinder any productive oversight.
Requiring two business days of advance notice and valid proof of a detainee’s consent to the meeting raises serious concerns in three main ways.
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The new policy assumes that detainees have timely access not only to obtaining an ICE Form 60-001 or similar form, but also to returning it to the appropriate entity within two business days. We have witnessed firsthand how difficult it can be for detainees to access this form because it was unavailable at the law library or because facility staff did not know how to help detainees access the form.
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The new policy in effect severely reduces the ability for members of Congress to conduct unannounced oversight visits by requiring members to announce a visit if seeking to meet with a detainee(s). Again, this contradicts the recent court ruling affirming the right for members of Congress to conduct oversight visits without advance notice.
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The new policy limits the ability for members of Congress to speak broadly with detainees, particularly if members wanted to communicate with vulnerable communities such as elderly individuals or women. ICE’s previous policy allowed detainees to use a sign-up sheet to meet with representatives, allowing members of Congress to hear directly from individuals who were interested in sharing their experience.
The Trump Administration has shut down or dramatically reduced staffing at the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) – both critical components responsible for conducting independent and impartial investigations. For Fiscal Year 2027, the President requested additional cuts to funding the Department’s Office of the Inspector General. These actions, coupled with the constant changes to policies surrounding member access to facilities, reveal a clear attack on the levers that ensure government transparency at every level.
We call on you to reverse the new policy restricting access for members of Congress to speak with detainees and implement an updated policy that grants detainees the option to speak with members to share their experiences, particularly during unannounced visits.
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