One day after Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem put forward new restrictions on congressional visits to ICE detention facilities, according to a report from Politico on Saturday.
The order requires lawmakers to provide a week’s advance notice before visiting facilities. As Politico reported, last month, a federal judge rejected a nearly identical policy, ruling that as part of its oversight of federal spending, the law requires Congress to have unrestricted visits.
Noem’s order attempts to work around that ruling by allocating only funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for congressional visits.
The new restrictions prevented three House Democrats from Minnesota from touring a detention facility in Minneapolis on Saturday.
“I was just denied access to the ICE processing center at the Whipple Building,” Rep. Ilhan Omar wrote in a post on X. “Members of Congress have a legal right and constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight where people are being detained. The public deserves to know what is taking place in ICE facilities.”
In a statement, Noem claimed the reason the administration changed the policy was to “ensure adequate protection for Members of Congress, congressional staff, detainees, and ICE employees alike,” adding that “unannounced visits require pulling ICE officers away from their normal duties.”
But Omar didn’t buy that justification. “That is the most BS statement I have ever heard from DHS,” she said on Sunday’s “The Weekend: Primetime.”
“There was no need to have anyone guarding us,” she said. “There was no need to have anyone with weapons with us. It was a casual visit inside the building, and we could have been allowed to fully complete our oversight duties.”
The congresswoman explained that she and her fellow lawmakers were beginning a tour of the facility when their visit was “abruptly” ended.
“If it had to do with any sort of security problems, we would have been rushed with some armed guards, or any of those kinds of things that you normally see,” Omar added. “But no, we quietly walked, and we were asked if we wanted coffee, so this had nothing to do with safety or worry for ICE agents or for ourselves.”








