Two days after U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar was denied entry into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement migrant detention center in El Paso, the agency is doubling down, stating a seven-day notice is required – and calling the congresswoman’s efforts a “political stunt.”
Escobar, a Democrat, in a statement Friday said the “guidelines” set by the Department of Homeland Security last month are illegal and deserve public scrutiny.
“The Department headed by a Secretary most known for cosplaying that she is in a war zone should perhaps not lecture anyone on publicity stunts,” the statement said, referring to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “I have toured these facilities innumerable times since I was elected – through both the Trump and Biden Administrations, this is the first time I was turned away.”
Escobar said although the law doesn’t require members of Congress to provide advance notice to visit an ICE detention center, her office notified the agency Tuesday about her intent to visit the El Paso Service Center on Montana Avenue on Wednesday. She noted that she would be accompanied by a staff member.
ICE via email responded that it could not accommodate her visit. Escobar showed up at the facility as intended Wednesday and was turned away.
That same day, Escobar issued a statement to the media about being denied entry. ICE officials did not respond to requests for comments at the time.
An ICE spokesperson in a Friday statement said current DHS policy requires a minimum seven days notice for visits to detention facilities. It stated that ICE asks members of Congress to follow the established procedures.
“Congresswoman Veronica Escobar was explicitly informed of these guidelines and advised that ICE would be more than happy to accommodate her visit — provided it was scheduled in accordance with DHS policy,” ICE said in a statement. “However, she disregarded that requirement and arrived unannounced at the El Paso Processing Center the very next day, knowing she would be denied entry.”
The statement accuses Escobar of engaging with the media, giving “the appearance of a political stunt intended to generate publicity rather than pursue genuine oversight.”
Tension between Democratic lawmakers and federal immigration authorities has escalated over the Trump administration’s immigration raids and mass deportations efforts, including oversight of ICE migrant detention facilities.
In the email exchange released by Escobar on Friday, ICE included a statement attributable to DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin saying that any requests to tour processing centers and field offices must first be approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security herself. The email states that’s because the agency has seen a “surge in assaults, disruptions and obstructions of enforcement, including by politicians themselves.”
Visits to detention facilities, the emails state, should be made with sufficient time – a week – to “prevent interference” with the president’s authority to oversee executive department functions. Requests to “shorten” that time must be approved by the DHS secretary, the email states.
The seven-day notice requirement is included on the ICE Office of Congressional Relations webpage. DHS imposed new limits on congressional visits to ICE facilities in mid-June.
Federal law allows members of Congress to make unannounced visits to immigration facilities that detain or house migrants.
During a press briefing Thursday, Escobar said she had notified ranking members of the Appropriations Committee – of which she’s a member – of the incident in hopes that there will be further discussion and action to ensure members of Congress are allowed access as required by law.
She noted that, with only a 24-hour notice, she was recently allowed to visit the soft-sided ICE facility in Northeast El Paso that’s being used as an overflow detention facility and a staging site to prepare migrants for deportation flights.
Amnesty International, a human rights organization, in a May report said that migrants at the processing center on Montana Avenue faced widespread human rights violations. ICE at the time said it would conduct an internal review of the report.
Escobar, during Trump’s first term in office, worked with the Homeland Security appropriations chair to change the law and allow House representatives to perform oversight of ICE-run detention facilities without having to give advance notice.
“We need some Republicans to work with us to ensure that members of Congress are able to perform their oversight functions,” she said at the press briefing.
The post ICE, Escobar clash over access to El Paso migrant detention center, oversight policy appeared first on El Paso Matters.
Read: Read More