House Democrats Inspect ICE Detention Facilities Amid Protests and Calls for Transparency

On Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement allowed three House Democrats—Analilia Mejia and Rob Menendez from New Jersey and Gwen Moore from Wisconsin—to conduct oversight visits at detention centers in Newark, New Jersey, and Leavenworth, Kansas. ICE framed the tours as a transparency effort, permitting the legislators to speak with detainees such as individuals with deportation orders and those deemed flight risks.

Mejia condemned the agency for excluding chronically ill detainees, pregnant women, and for providing food that allegedly caused gastrointestinal problems. Protesters at Delaney Hall highlighted a claimed hunger and labor strike, which ICE disputes, and New Jersey officials, including Governor Mikie Sherrill, have been barred from full access, prompting a civil-rights investigation by Attorney General Jennifer Davenport.

Moore’s presence at the Kansas site, overseen by ICE’s Chicago Field Office, remains unexplained, though she previously criticized ICE’s tactical arrests in Milwaukee. The visits occur amid ongoing tensions between ICE and House Democrats that began under the prior administration.