House Democrats are calling on the new ICE director to roll back the policy on visits
WASHINGTON — A number of House Democrats are calling on the new director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to roll back a policy they say restricts their ability to speak with detainees during surveillance visits.
The new policy requires law enforcement to identify inmates by name at least two business days before the visit and provide a signed consent form from each inmate. It’s the latest point of contention in the ongoing battle over when and how lawmakers can inspect immigration facilities.
In a letter Thursday to Acting ICE Director David Venturella, Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano) and 77 other members of Congress, including twenty-two from California, have argued that they need to regularly monitor immigration centers because of historic levels of reports about prisoner mistreatment, deaths in custody and substandard conditions.
“This Administration has created a dynamic department of policies, directives, and guidance on member access to facilities or contact with inmates designed to prevent any effective orientation,” they wrote.
The letter was written in response to the new policy, which was outlined in a memo last month.
In the letter, Levin and other members wrote that inmates find it difficult to obtain a visitation form because it is sometimes not available in the facility’s law library. They said it limited their ability to talk more with inmates, especially those from vulnerable backgrounds, such as the elderly.
Inmates previously used the registration form to meet members of Congress or just started talking to inmates they met during visits.
In a memo outlining ICE’s new policy, then-acting director Todd Lyons said increased visits by members of Congress had become burdensome and time-consuming. Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but previously said the policy does not prevent law enforcement from talking to inmates.
Levin said that it is necessary to increase visitors because the organization has reduced its office staff. The letter notes that for the next fiscal year, the president requested further cuts to the Office of the Homeland Security Inspector General.
“These actions, along with ongoing policy changes affecting members’ access to institutions, represent a clear attack on the levers of government transparency at all levels,” the members wrote.
House Democrats sued the Trump administration last July after they were repeatedly denied access to immigration detention centers in California and across the country.
Homeland Security officials previously used a policy requiring lawmakers to give seven days notice before a visit, but that policy was temporarily blocked in federal court.
This week, lawyers said a Belizean man who helped organize hunger strikes at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center has been transferred to facilities outside the state and is expected to be deported after speaking to three members of Congress about conditions at the San Bernardino County Detention Center.
