Judge: Lawmakers Must Stick to 7-Day Wait on ICE Visits

A DC federal judge has, for now, left in place a Homeland Security rule that slows down surprise visits by members of Congress to immigration detention centers. US District Judge Jia Cobb decided on Monday not to immediately block a DHS policy that requires lawmakers to give seven days' notice before inspecting Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, per the New York Times. Cobb said in her ruling that the Democratic lawmakers challenging the policy must rewrite their lawsuit to directly confront the Trump administration's new justification for the rule.

Cobb had previously halted a nearly identical policy in December, pointing to language in the regular appropriations law that funds DHS and explicitly protects congressional access for oversight. However, DHS chief Kristi Noem quietly reinstated the policy a day after the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, per the AP. The administration argued that detention operations are now being funded through money in President Trump's domestic spending package, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, rather than through the annual appropriations law Cobb relied on, per the Times.

At an emergency hearing last week, attorneys for Democratic lawmakers—including some who were denied entry to a Minneapolis detention center on Jan. 10—accused DHS of using a funding shuffle to dodge the court's earlier order. Lawyer Christine Coogle of Democracy Forward argued that appropriations "are not a game" and cited ongoing use of congressionally appropriated money, such as salaries for senior officials and software licenses at ICE facilities, as evidence the agency hasn't truly severed itself from that funding. Cobb's brief written order emphasized that her latest ruling turned on these technical funding arguments, not on the underlying question of whether the notice requirement is lawful.