Chicago – January 20, 2026
In a setback for Democratic lawmakers, a federal judge on Monday refused to block the Trump administration’s new policy requiring a week’s advance notice for Congress members visiting ICE detention facilities. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb in Washington, D.C., ruled that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not violate her prior order by reinstating the seven-day requirement via a January 8 memo from Secretary Kristi Noem.
The decision follows three Minnesota Democratic representatives—Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison, and Angie Craig—being denied entry to a Minneapolis ICE facility shortly after an ICE officer fatally shot U.S. citizen Renee Good. Plaintiffs argued the policy obstructs urgent oversight amid escalating immigration enforcement and looming DHS funding deadlines on January 30.
Cobb emphasized her ruling addresses only the procedural challenge, not the policy’s legality, leaving room for further lawsuits. Democracy Forward vowed to pursue all legal avenues against what it calls evasion of congressional oversight. Critics decry the move as shielding poor conditions in facilities from unannounced inspections during Trump’s mass deportation push.
