Congress ‘losing its ability to do oversight,’ top Oversight Democrat says

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the new top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Sunday he is concerned Congress is losing its ability to monitor immigration policy and enforcement.

“This is a very dangerous moment in our country, and certainly when it comes to immigration policy,” Garcia said on MSNBC.

Under federal law, members of Congress have the right to make unannounced visits to immigration detention facilities for oversight purposes. Some Democratic lawmakers have been turned away during such visits amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

ICE instituted new rules this month restricting lawmakers’ access to its facilities, asserting its field offices are off-limits and that agency officials have the “sole and unreviewable discretion” to cancel visits.

The agency is also now asking members of Congress to give at least 72 hours’ notice ahead of visits, up from the previously requested 24 hours.

Garcia contended on MSNBC that the new regulations were unconstitutional. 

“Now, Secretary Noem has put in a new law, which is unconstitutional, in place that is forcing members to actually have to wait days to actually inspect these facilities,” he said, referring to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem..

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Hill that requests to visit detention facilities “should be made with sufficient time to prevent interference with the President’s Article II authority to oversee executive department functions—a week is sufficient to ensure no intrusion on the President’s constitutional authority.”

“To protect the President’s Article II authority, any request to shorten that time must be approved by the Secretary,” she wrote, adding that requests to tour processing centers and field offices were subject to agency approval due to “a surge in assaults, disruptions and obstructions to enforcement, including by politicians themselves.”

Attempts by Democratic lawmakers to visit ICE facilities have resulted in some high-profile showdowns. During one attempted visit in May, agents arrested Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras Baraka (D) and charged him with trespassing, only to drop the charges days later. Then, the Justice Department indicted Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), who was not arrested at the scene, with assaulting immigration officers.

Garcia was elevated to Oversight ranking member after Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) died last month. The committee is often a focal point of partisan clashes in the House, with its GOP leaders now embarking on a probe into the mental state of former President Biden and how his reported decline was handled by top aides.

During his MSNBC appearance, the California Democrat also took aim at the GOP’s “big beautiful bill” for expanding funding to hire as many as 10,000 new agents over five years. 

“We also know that as they are building ICE into essentially some type of military police force,” he said, “they are using it for their own goods and purposes to do whatever they want.”

Updated at 10:59 a.m. EDT