Lawmakers are back in court after an earlier legal victory, challenging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after its secretary, Kristi Noem, issued a second order seeking to limit their ability to make unannounced visits to immigration detention facilities.
Members of Congress last month won their lawsuit after challenging a June DHS policy seeking to require them to give seven days notice of any intended visit.
The lawmaker’s latest filing accuses DHS of having “secretly reimposed” the policy in an order signed by Noem last Thursday.
“On Saturday, January 9—three days after U.S. citizen Renee Good was shot dead by an ICE agent in Minneapolis—three members of Congress from the Minnesota delegation, with this Court’s order in hand, attempted to conduct an oversight visit of an ICE facility near Minneapolis,” the filing states, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Only upon showing up at the facility were they informed Noem had again tried to impose the policy, they stated.
Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) is the lead plaintiff on the lawsuit, which is joined by 11 other Democrats, including the ranking members on the House oversight, judiciary and homeland security committees.