DHS said that while Congress members have the right to make unannounced visits to detention facilities for oversight, ICE field offices “fall outside” that purview.

U.S. Rep Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, has denounced the Department of Homeland Security's limiting of surprise visit of detention facilities.

The agency’s new memo seeks to differentiate ICE field offices from detention facilities, noting that “ICE Field Offices are not detention facilities” and therefore do not fall under the appropriations act provision.