FROM WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Immigration and Customs Enforcement argued that it no longer has to grant on-demand visits to its facilities to Democratic members of Congress due to resource constraints resulting from the government shutdown.
Since President Donald Trump retook office and increasingly emboldened ICE, the agency has wrestled with Democratic members of Congress over access to its facilities. ICE lawyers argued that it now doesn’t have the capability to give Democrats access due to the shutdown, court documents showed.
The comments were made in a lawsuit filed by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO). Democratic lawmakers have sued the agency over its resistance to lawmaker visits, often accompanied by inflammatory rhetoric against ICE. Several major Democratic officials, including Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Reps. John Larson (D-CT), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), and Robin Kelly (D-IL).
“With the lapse in appropriations following the expiration of the FY2025 Continuing Resolution at 12:00 A.M. on October 1, 2025, ICE is no longer funding the operation of its detention facilities (including the adoption and implementation of the Congressional visitation protocols at issue in this action) with any funds that were appropriated subject to Section 527,” ICE attorneys wrote in a court filing, referring to the law that requires on-demand visits from lawmakers.
Rep. Larson has spewed dangerous rhetoric in his lawsuit, calling ICE “the SS,” referring to the Nazi Schutzstaffel, German for “Protective Echelon.” Founded in 1925, the SS was originally used as Adolf Hitler’s protective detail. Under Heinrich Himmler’s leadership, it became a massive organization and a key player in the persecution and execution of the Jews. The SS was declared a criminal organization after World War II, as its members were responsible for war crimes and the administration of concentration camps.
NEW: ICE says it no longer has to provide Congress access to detention facilities — thanks to the shutdown.
That requirement was part of the appropriations law that expired last month — and now operations are funded by Trump’s megabill.
w/ @MyahWard https://t.co/PwOsQibech pic.twitter.com/PPba0MItXb
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) October 27, 2025
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