Here’s What Happened

We were glad to host you, Congresswoman. For those curious, here’s what happened:

Prior to the visit, the Congresswoman signed ICE’s Facility Visitation Agreement form, indicating she would abide by all processes and policies governing personal conduct at ICE facilities. One of…

— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) August 21, 2026

… these policies is that meetings with detainees must be scheduled in advance, both for the privacy of detainees and the safety of visitors.

Field leadership welcomed the Congresswoman and led a comprehensive tour tailored to the specific areas she had requested to see, including visitor check-in, intake, kitchen/food preparation and medical services. During a tour of the kitchen area, the Congresswoman asked to speak with certain detainees in the area and was reminded that without prior consent from detainees, her request could not be accommodated at that time. Instead of accepting this guidance, the Congresswoman began talking and shouting to them from a distance, telling the detainees who she was and attempting to get closer to them. This disrupted operations and required intervention by facility leadership.

ICE maintains clear policies about acceptable conduct within its facilities, just like all other federal law enforcement agencies do. Those policies are made clear ahead of time to congressional visitors. Despite some members’ failures to abide by those policies, ICE continues to go above and beyond to keep the American people informed about our mission, operations and people.