A federal judge appeared open to siding with House Democrats at a hearing Wednesday over a new Department of Homeland Security guidance restricting congressional oversight visits to immigration detention facilities.
Judge Jia M. Cobb of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia pressed for answers over how the Trump administration is funding the implementation of the guidance that includes a seven-day wait period for lawmakers to gain access to immigration facilities. Attorneys for lawmakers say that’s a brazen attempt to sidestep a provision in appropriations law, Section 527, that allows lawmakers to make unannounced visits to immigration detention facilities.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in the newest guidance that the funding is coming from the reconciliation law that President Donald Trump signed on July 4, which she refers to as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
