US judge again blocks Trump ban on lawmakers’ surprise visits to detention centers

By Daniel Wiessner

Feb 2 (Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday blocked a renewed attempt by President Donald Trump’s administration to bar members of Congress from making unannounced visits to immigrant detention facilities.

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security could not revive the policy, which the judge had blocked in December, by claiming it is using a different source of funding to implement it. The ruling came in a lawsuit by 13 Democratic members of Congress. 

Trump, a Republican, has made a crackdown on legal and illegal immigration a centerpiece of his second term. That has included a mass deportation campaign and the detention of thousands of people awaiting legal proceedings.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a January 8 memo mandated that members of Congress request access to detention centers at least seven days in advance, citing “significant and sometimes violent incidents.”

Cobb last month had blocked an identical policy adopted in June from being implemented using resources funded by the department’s general annual budget, such as for staff and equipment. She said that under federal law, members of Congress have broad authority to conduct oversight at detention centers.

Noem in the memo said the agency would instead use part of the $29 billion earmarked for immigration enforcement efforts in Trump’s 2025 tax cut and spending legislation. Cobb in December said that funding was not subject to the same legal limitations as money that comes from the general budget.

But on Monday, the judge said the Trump administration had not shown that the policy could be implemented and enforced using only the earmarked funds. 

“At least some of these resources that either have been or will be used to promulgate and enforce the notice policy have already been funded and paid for with restricted annual appropriations funds,” Cobb wrote.

Cobb, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, blocked the policy pending further litigation.

The Democrats who filed the lawsuit are represented by Democracy Forward, which is involved in dozens of legal challenges to Trump administration policies. Skye Perryman, the group’s president and CEO, in a statement said Cobb’s ruling restores the ability of Congress to expose dangerous conditions at detention centers.

The lawmakers come from California, Colorado, Maryland, Mississippi, New York and Texas.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by David Gregorio and Bill Berkrot)