Colorado Rep. Jason Crow has filed a lawsuit claiming that the Trump administration’s recently-imposed policy of requiring advance approval for oversight visits to immigration detention centers is patently unlawful.
According to Colorado Public Radio, Crow is now among a dozen Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives suing the administration over its utter lack of transparency.
“Congress makes the law of the land, not any president or this administration in particular. And the law is very clear that members of Congress have the right to conduct inspections and oversight visits unannounced,” Crow said in an interview with Colorado Public Radio.
The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is identified as Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse, another Democrat.
In the lawsuit, attorneys note that Neguse and two other Democratic House members attempted to conduct an oversight visit to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Chantilly, Virginia, on July 21, after receiving information that detainees were being held there.
Although ICE later confirmed that it does house detainees at the facility, it turned Neguse and his colleagues away.
“Representative Neguse intends to continue engaging in on-the-ground, real-time oversight of DHS facilities,” the lawsuit states. “Without obtaining necessary information through this oversight, Representative Neguse is less able to serve his constituents, to ensure that DHS and ICE are acting consistently with the law, and to craft relevant legislation and appropriations, including limits on such appropriations.”
In June, Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued guidance stating that, while members of Congress are still entitled to make announced oversight visits, individual field offices falling “outside” of standard provisions are exempt and that ICE “retains the sole and unreviewable discretion to deny a request or otherwise cancel, reschedule or terminate a tour or visit” under certain circumstances.
U.S. Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem clarified the guidance by saying that, though the agency respects the rule of law, it will not prioritize the needs and requests of Congresspeople over others.
“They are not above the law,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “All members and staff need to comply with facility rules, procedures, and instructions from ICE personnel on site for their own safety, the safety of the detainees, and the safety of ICE employees.”
Crow says that congresspeople have no intention whatsoever of endangering ICE personnel or impending the agency’s operations.
“That’s simply not what members of Congress are attempting to do, and certainly not those who have signed into this lawsuit,” Crow said. “We have a constitutional obligation to conduct oversight of federal facilities in our communities, and that is what we are endeavoring to do
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