A federal judge has once again reined in the Trump administration by ordering, for the second time, that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allow members of Congress to conduct unannounced visits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers. The decision, issued Monday by District Court Judge Jia M. Cobb, temporarily blocks the requirement to give seven days' notice to inspect these facilities and reinforces the legislature's right to oversee the conditions in which thousands of people are held in federal custody.
The administration also closed two other offices with mandates to protect the public from misconduct-the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman and the Immigration Detention Ombudsman-saying the cuts were necessary to limit redundancy. Nonprofit groups sued, arguing that a department with more than 250,000 employees that interacts with 3 million to 4 million members of the public each day needed more oversight, not less.
