A federal judge has once again issued an order to temporarily stop the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing its rules that barred members of Congress from conducting unannounced oversight visits to immigration detention facilities.
U.S. District Court Judge Jia M. Cobb issued her second ruling on Monday, Feb. 2, after Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security, violated Cobb’s first order blocking the Trump administration from denying unannounced congressional oversight at federal ICE detention facilities.
The order followed Noem issuing an internal memo on Jan. 8, reinstating a requirement that congressional representatives advise DHS seven days prior to any visit to detention sites.
The judge ruled that DHS could not enforce the requirement.
Cobb’s decision comes 19 days after she heard arguments. Her first ruling was made on Dec. 19.
The original lawsuit was filed in July. The challenge to Noem’s memo was filed on behalf of U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, and several other House Democrats, including Assistant Democratic Leader Joe Neguse and Reps. Adriano Espaillat of New York, Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi and Norma Torres of California.
The organizations Democracy Forward and American Oversight represented the congressional representatives in their lawsuit. They welcomed the judge’s ruling.
“Today, yet again, a federal court has denied the Trump-Vance administration’s attempt to keep their cruelty out of public view; This ruling is consistent with the law — the president cannot block our clients, who are members of Congress, from conducting oversight of ICE facilities,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said. “Today’s decision restores Congress’s ability to expose dangerous detention conditions, protect people — including US citizens — who are in government custody, and enforce the law when the administration refuses to do so.”
The judge’s order comes as ICE detention facilities have seen an increase in deaths at detention facilities across the country. There have been six deaths of detainees held in ICE detention centers in 2026, including two deaths at the Camp East Montana facility in El Paso — the facility, which opened in August 2025, is set to be the largest in the country, holding up to 5,000 detainees.
The death of Gerardo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old immigrant from Cuba held at Camp East Montana, was ruled a homicide by the El Paso County Medical Examiner Office.
“At a time when the public has been confronted with violent images of ICE officers attacking people on the street, and reports of abuse, neglect, and deaths in ICE custody, transparency is more important than ever,” Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, said. “By restoring Congress’s statutory right to conduct unannounced inspections, the court has made clear that no administration is above the law, and that the human consequences of detention cannot be hidden from public view.”
Trump administration limits oversight
Unannounced oversight visits are a key part of the job for Congress to guarantee taxpayers’ money is being used correctly in federal facilities and to guarantee that the conditions for detainees meet federal standards.
The DHS secretary said she disagreed with Cobb’s order in her new memo. She wrote that she would work around the order, claiming that funds made available through Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act were exempt from oversight laws.
Noem changed the requirements for congressional visits after several Democrats attempted oversight at detention facilities in New Jersey and California.
Several members of Congress were blocked from conducting oversight of ICE detention facilities ahead of the announcement of the new rules. U.S. Reps. Torres, Jimmy Gomez, Luz Rivas, and Lou Correa of California and Reps. Espaillat and Nydia Velázquez of New York, all Democrats, were blocked from visiting ICE detention facilities in their states on June 8.
Escobar was blocked from carrying out an oversight visit at the El Paso processing facility on Montana Avenue on July 9. Escobar’s planned visit to the newly constructed Camp East Montana immigrant detention facility on Sept. 25 was canceled at the last moment without explanation.
Escobar and others have increasingly raised concerns about conditions at the immigration detention facilities across the country as the number of immigrants detained increases.
Escobar and the American Civil Liberties Union have said that conditions at Camp East Montana are “dangerous and inhumane.”
Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times and can be reached at:jdabbott@usatodayco.com; @palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Federal judge says Trump administration must allow ICE facility visits
Reporting by Jeff Abbott, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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