Something has to be done with these lower court federal judges
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Federal judge grants temprorary restraining order lifting DHS restrictions on lawmaker visits to detention facilities
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., justified a temporary restraining order on the policy by concluding that ICE likely violated funding restrictions and that its policy causes irreparable harm.
The judge’s order stated that the court previously found that the DHS policy requiring advance notice for congressional oversight visits to ICE detention facilities "imposes irreparable harm" on lawmakers, "denying them the ability to carry out timely oversight of covered facilities."
You’ve seen these in the news: a gaggle of politicians stage a dog and pony show, appearing without notice at a detention center and demanding to be let in, all in front of the television crews they’ve alerted before hand. DHS has been requiring a weeks notice for such “visits:, in part because they’re incredibly disruptive and drain away staff resources while the politicians are entertained.
Individual congressmen have no legal right to barge into a detention center or a prison, but these judges aren’t concerned with mere legalities.
And, absolutely related, this:
Dem rep's staffer repeatedly posed as lawyer for detainees, smuggled phone into Texas facility, ICE says
A staffer for Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, allegedly lied about being an attorney at least 11 times for detainees at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in an effort to meet with them and sneak in cell phones.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons informed Escobar in a letter dated Thursday about Benito Torres, a senior caseworker on the congresswoman's staff.
Lyons said Torres lied about being a lawyer for detainees in ICE custody at the Camp East Montana facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso.
"The available evidence demonstrates your staffer, a senior caseworker named Benito Torres, misrepresented himself as counsel for detainees in ICE custody, violated clear detention standards and security protocols prohibiting the use of cellphones inside ICE facilities, improperly met with multiple detainees, and falsely claimed to ICE personnel such use had been approved by the agency," Lyons wrote.
"As a result of bringing a cell phone into the Camp East Montana facility, contrary to facility visitation policy, Mr. Torres’ misrepresentation that he is a licensed attorney to gain access to detainees, his improper meetings with groups of detainees, and his assertions to ICE personnel about the origins of his visit, Mr. Torres is herby [sic] prohibited from accessing any ICE facility."
An image of a sign-in log shows Torres allegedly claiming to be a "lawyer" visiting a "client." ICE records show that Torres first misrepresented himself as a legal professional in September 2025, Lyons said. The most recent incident happened on Jan. 30.
During that visit, Torres was confronted by a facility administrator and admitted that he was not an attorney and was visiting as a private person. The confrontation happened after officials in the facility became aware of someone passing a phone to multiple detainees, the letter states.