Two congressmen were refused entry to observe and inspect an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in New York City on Wednesday. New York Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman found themselves barred from entering the offices in Lower Manhattan, despite rules allowing for unannounced oversight visits by lawmakers.
This refusal by ICE comes one day after NYC mayoral candidate Brad Lander was detained by federal agents in the same building. Lander was escorting immigrants from their court hearings when agents arrested him on allegations of impeding federal officers. Those charges were later dropped, and Lander was released.
"Congress has a duty to conduct oversight and the American people deserve transparency," Nadler wrote in a post on X. "ICE doesn’t get to lie about the nature of this facility to dodge oversight and hide behind masks while doing it."
Nadler described the facility as a place "where migrants are reportedly being forced to sleep on the floor for days at a time."
"This is completely unacceptable," Nadler said, "and we will not back down."
Goldman echoed Nadler at a press conference on Wednesday.
"We will not stop until we get to go in and observe what is going on in these detention centers," Goldman said. "What are they hiding about this facility that they are using to house immigrants for multiple days?"
