A federal court has again stepped in to stop the Trump administration from tightening the rules on how members of Congress can inspect immigration detention facilities—this time rejecting an attempt to repackage the same restrictions under a different funding label.
In Washington, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ruled that the Department of Homeland Security cannot enforce a policy requiring lawmakers to give a week’s notice before visiting detention centres. The measure had already been frozen once, and the court found that simply pointing to a new pool of money does not make the restrictions lawful.
The case was brought by 13 Democratic lawmakers who argued that surprise inspections are a core part of congressional oversight, especially as detention populations swell under the administration’s aggressive immigration drive. President Donald Trump has made enforcement a defining theme of his second term, pairing large-scale deportations with expanded use of detention facilities.
The disputed rule was laid out in a January memo from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who said advance notice was needed because of “significant and sometimes violent incidents.” A similar policy adopted earlier had been blocked after the court found it conflicted with federal law granting lawmakers broad authority to enter detention centres without prior approval.
After that setback, the administration said it would rely on immigration enforcement funds carved out in Trump’s 2025 tax and spending package rather than the department’s general budget. But Judge Cobb said the government failed to show that the policy could be created and enforced using only those earmarked funds, noting that restricted annual appropriations had already been used.
The judge has now put the notice requirement on hold again while the lawsuit continues.
Advocacy groups backing the lawmakers welcomed the decision, saying it preserves Congress’s ability to uncover unsafe or inhumane conditions behind detention walls. The plaintiffs represent districts in California, Colorado, Maryland, Mississippi, New York and Texas—states that host some of the country’s largest immigration detention networks.
