SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY — Representative Mike Levin, alongside 77 House Democrats, sent a letter to acting ICE Director David Venturella requesting the rescission of a policy. The policy requires advanced notice before lawmakers can speak with detainees during oversight visits.

The new policy mandates that lawmakers identify specific detainees by name at least two business days before a visit. It also requires a signed consent form from each detainee. Previously, detainees would use a sign-up sheet or speak directly with lawmakers during facility tours to request meetings.

Lawmakers indicated that detainees sometimes cannot access the necessary visitation consent form because it is not available at detention center law libraries. Then-acting ICE director Todd Lyons outlined the visit policy in a memo issued last month. In the memo, Lyons stated that increased congressional visits had become a burden and consumed staff time.

Homeland Security previously implemented a policy requiring lawmakers to give seven days' notice before visits, which a federal court temporarily blocked. The agency also stated that the new policy does not prevent lawmakers from speaking with detainees.

Levin stated that the increase in congressional visits was necessary because the agency reduced staffing in its oversight offices. The president requested additional funding cuts for the Homeland Security Office of Inspector General for the next fiscal year. Levin said, "This Administration has enabled a revolving door of arbitrary policies, directives, and guidance on member access to facilities or on communication with detainees designed to hinder any productive oversight." He added, "These actions, coupled with the constant changes to policies surrounding member access to facilities, reveal a clear attack on the levers that ensure government transparency at every level."

No independent assessment of House Democrats’s claims was available.