U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials now claim that the federal government shutdown means they are no longer required to allow members of Congress into their facilities for inspection, Politico reported on Monday.
Officials are providing two reasons for this, according to the report: First, ICE officials "have informed lawmakers that they simply don’t have the staff or funding to support those visits. Lawmakers have previously been legally allowed to demand them as part of their oversight duties, which includes monitoring conditions and communicating with detainees facing deportation."
The second reason, which they have made in court as Democratic lawmakers sue over access to ICE facilities, is that "there’s now no law on the books that requires the Trump administration to accommodate lawmakers’ visits. That requirement had been contained in government funding laws that expired when the shutdown began. Instead, ICE informed U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb that it is now funding its operations with appropriations made in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which does not require congressional access."
The court has yet to rule on the validity of this argument.
Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Politico, “While the Democrats may not care about shutting down the government and making millions of public servants go without a paycheck, maybe they will get back to work now that they have lost the precious appropriations rider they rely on to try to storm ICE facilities.”
ICE visits, despite being protected by law, have been a source of great friction in Congress, with the agency often trying to skirt having to grant access to lawmakers, and the Trump administration even arresting one member who was involved in such oversight.
This comes as the shutdown has dragged on for several weeks, becoming one of the longest such standoffs in history and causing a number of collapses of services, including a worsening air traffic controller shortage.