SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Two San Diego-area congress members toured the Otay Mesa Detention Center on Monday but were blocked from speaking with detainees under a new policy from the acting ICE director.
Representatives Sara Jacobs and Mike Levin made an unannounced visit to the facility, touring it for about an hour and a half. They were given access to the medical facilities, the pods, and even tasted the food and water.
It was the first unannounced tour attempt since a court of appeals ruled Friday that members of Congress do not need to provide seven days' notice before an oversight visit, all part of an ongoing lawsuit filed in January by other members of Congress.
But when Jacobs and Levin asked to speak with detainees, they say they were handed a memo dated Monday from acting ICE Director Todd Lyons announcing a new policy. Under the policy, meetings with detainees will only occur if members of Congress make the request at least two days in advance, identify the detainees they wish to speak with by name, and provide a waiver indicating that the detainee agrees to speak.
Levin said the new requirements undermine the purpose of an unannounced visit.
"It completely defeats the point of making an unannounced visit, which is that you want to make sure they're not just cleaning the place up because you're showing up there."
"When you create those barriers or those walls, who knows? The, the level of transparency goes down," added Levin.
Levin offered a measured assessment of what they did observe inside the facility.
"What I will tell you is that we saw the conditions were just fine, that, you know, again, this place is nowhere where you'd want to spend a long period of time, said Levin"
ICE and DHS did not respond to questions about the new policy. The memo states that congressional visits are "disruptive and resource-intensive."
Despite the restrictions, Jacobs and Levin praised ICE for making changes since their last scheduled visit, saying that forms allowing detainees to reach out to their members of Congress are now readily available.
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