In a move raising fresh concerns about transparency at federal detention sites, the Trump administration on Tuesday barred Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi from entering a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Illinois.
The Democratic lawmaker said he had arrived to conduct official oversight amid reports of detentions, just days after video surfaced showing ICE officers forcefully restraining a 15-year-old from his district in Hoffman Estates. Despite his congressional authority, ICE officials denied him access to the site.
“I demanded access to the Broadview ICE facility to perform oversight — as is my right and my duty as a Member of Congress,” said Krishnamoorthi. “Once again, the Trump Administration slammed the door on transparency and accountability. Congress and the American people have every right to see what’s happening behind those walls.”
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“This is Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, I have former Congressman Luis Gutiérrez with me, under section 527 of the appropriations law I am entitled to be able to inspect,” Krishnamoorthi could be heard saying on the phone call before the facility’s staff member interrupted him on the video posted on X.
Tuesday’s incident marks the second time in recent months that Krishnamoorthi has been denied access to an ICE facility.
In June, he and Congressman Jonathan Jackson were blocked from visiting a Chicago detention center while attempting to review conditions and obtain details about those being held.
Krishnamoorthi warned that such repeated refusals to permit lawful oversight erode transparency at a moment when federal immigration enforcement has sharply escalated under “Operation Midway Blitz,” the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation drive targeting Democratic-led cities.
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Last month, as part of his ongoing inquiry into ICE conduct, Krishnamoorthi urged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to appear before the House Oversight Committee to address reports of abuse and procedural violations.
Although members of Congress are legally empowered to inspect federal detention centers, including those run by ICE, the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly resisted such visits, effectively blocking lawmakers from exercising their oversight role at facilities nationwide.
In recent weeks, Chicago has emerged as a focal point of the Trump administration’s intensified immigration crackdown. The former president has repeatedly threatened to send in the National Guard, as he did in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., to quell growing anti-ICE demonstrations in the city. For now, that effort remains on hold after a federal judge blocked the deployment, a decision that a federal appeals court upheld over the weekend.