Federal judge refuses to block ICE restrictions on congressional visits
A federal judge refused to block the Trump administration from enforcing a new policy requiring members of Congress to give a week’s notice before visiting immigration detention facilities. The ruling...
By Fox News · Fox News
A federal judge refused to block the Trump administration from enforcing a new policy requiring members of Congress to give a week’s notice before visiting immigration detention facilities. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., comes after Rep. Ilhan Omar , D-Minn., said she and other Minnesota lawmakers were kicked out of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 10. They were asked to leave the facility after being informed about the Trump administration rule governing lawmaker visits. Plaintiffs' attorneys representing several Democratic members of Congress asked Cobb to intervene, but the judge ruled Monday that they used the wrong "procedural vehicle" to challenge it. The judge also concluded that the Jan. 8 policy is a new Department of Homeland Security action that isn't subject to her prior order in the plaintiffs' favor. "The Court emphasizes that it denies Plaintiffs’ motion only because it is not the proper avenue to challenge Defendants’ January 8, 2026, memorandum and the policy stated therein, rather than based on any kind of finding that the policy is lawful," Cobb wrote. HOUSE DEMOCRATS ASK JUDGE TO BLOCK NOEM'S REVIVED ICE VISIT RULE, SAY DHS DEFIED COURT ORDER Last month, Cobb temporarily blocked an administration oversight visit policy. She ruled on Dec. 17 that it is likely illegal for ICE to demand a week’s notice from members of Congress seeking to visit and observe conditions in ICE facilities. A day after Renee Nicole Good’s death in Minneapolis, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem quietly signed a new memorandum reinstating another seven-day notice requirement, according to The Associated Press. Plaintiffs’ lawyers from the Democracy Forward legal advocacy group said DHS didn't disclose the latest policy until after Reps. Omar, Kelly Morrison and Angie Craig were turned away from an ICE facility in the Minneapolis federal building. Democracy Forw…