If Congress has to tell ICE a week before it walks into a detention center, ICE has a week to clean up. That is the argument House Democrats made to a federal appeals court on Tuesday, and the judges sounded as if they agreed.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard the government’s appeal of an order blocking a Homeland Security rule that requires lawmakers to give at least seven days’ notice before visiting an immigration detention facility. Judge Robert Wilkins compared the policy to barring lawmakers from the Senate chamber, since oversight is part of their job, as Courthouse News reported from the courtroom. The panel appeared skeptical of the administration’s position.
The suit was filed in July 2025 by Democratic House members led by Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado. They point to a provision that has appeared in every Homeland Security spending bill since 2020 and bars the department from using its money to keep members of Congress out of facilities it funds.
Who is behind the door
The people inside are Black readers’ neighbors and relatives. Haitians, West Africans and Caribbean immigrants are among those held, and the people who see them are often not lawyers or cameras but members of Congress, who can walk in and ask questions without an appointment. A week’s notice turns that visit into a tour.
Recent reporting shows why surprise matters. ICE counted 18 miscarriages in detention and then stopped counting, and Congress is asking for the rest of the records by Friday. Nobody finds out what is missing in a facility that has had seven days to prepare.
The government’s problem, and its escape hatch
The administration has argued that visits interfere with detention operations and that Democrats go for political reasons. In May, a D.C. Circuit panel refused to let the rule take effect while the appeal went forward. Judge Neomi Rao wrote that “at this stage the government has not sufficiently substantiated its claim of irreparable injury.”
The same order carried a warning for the lawmakers: “The Members have no standing to maintain this lawsuit, so the government is very likely to succeed on the merits of its appeal.” Whether members of Congress can sue over access at all is the question that could end the case without anyone ruling on the rule itself, and Bloomberg framed Tuesday’s argument around it.
That would be a bad way for this to end. A court that says elected officials may not enforce a spending law written to protect their oversight has not decided that ICE is right. It has decided that no one can ask. For people held in facilities that have already lost count of miscarriages, the difference matters.
The panel has not said when it will rule. Until it does, the lower court’s order stays in place and lawmakers can still show up unannounced.
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