Georgia’s Democratic U.S. senators have launched an inquiry into the Trump administration’s new policy of restricting lawmaker access to immigration detention facilities.
On Monday, Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock sent a letter to Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, criticizing her department’s “arbitrary and illegal obstruction” of Congress members’ ability to conduct oversight visits at detention facilities.
Those facilities have seen detainee populations surge amid the Trump administration’s push to achieve mass deportations. Eleven other Democratic senators also signed Monday’s letter.
Limiting congressional access to Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities “undermines Congress’s inherent authority to conduct oversight that ensures detained individuals’ human rights and protects Americans from agency waste, fraud, and abuse,” the letter says.
Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC
Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC
By law, members of Congress are allowed to visit ICE detention facilities without notice. Their staff may also visit with at least 24 hours notice.
But in recent months, lawmakers across the country have been blocked from entering facilities where immigrants are held. Monday’s letter says Ossoff’s office had to postpone “an urgent inspection of conditions for children” inside a federal facility because of new DHS restrictions.
Back in June, the agency codified those restrictions in a policy memo.
The guidance asked members of Congress to give at least 72 hours notice for visits. It stipulated that ICE has broad power to “deny a request or otherwise cancel, reschedule or terminate a tour or visit” by lawmakers or their staff under a variety of circumstances that include “operational concerns” or if “facility management or other ICE officials deem it appropriate to do so.”
The new policy also held that ICE field offices are off-limits and not subject to the provision in federal law that allows lawmakers to conduct oversight visits. Although they are not outfitted for long-term detention, ICE field offices have been used by the Trump administration to hold immigrants for days, including in Atlanta.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found in a story published in October there had been 1,239 cases of individuals spending at least 24 hours in the basement of the Atlanta field office, which lacks both beds and showers.
Because the June policy memo was removed from DHS’ website, senators asked Noem in the letter to provide a copy of the most recent guidance, as well as a list of the total number of congressional visits DHS has blocked in 2025.
DHS officials did not return a request for comment from the AJC.
Monday’s letter follows a July lawsuit filed by Democratic members of the House against the Trump administration over the restricted oversight visits.
The fight over access to ICE facilities comes amid the Trump administration’s nationwide investment in new detention beds, including in Georgia, where the Folkston ICE Processing Center is expanding, and where the Irwin County Detention Center has been reopened.
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