Arizona Democrats plan to keep demanding access to ICE facility

Last month, two members of Arizona’s congressional delegation called out Immigration and Customs Enforcement for denying them access to Eloy Detention Center, the private prison run by CoreCivic where ICE is housing detainees.

Now, Arizona’s Democrats are coordinating to keep the pressure on ICE to open up the prison to inspection.

At a Move On town hall on Sunday at the Van Buren in Phoenix, freshman Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari said her office has been in touch with Arizona’s other congressional Democrats — Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego and Rep. Greg Stanton — to begin “coordinating regular visits from all of us” to Eloy Detention Center. Members of Congress have the right to conduct oversight of immigration facilities.

“We want to make sure there’s coverage at all times and that they know that we are paying attention to what they’re doing,” Ansari said.

In July, ICE barred Ansari from meeting with several detainees who have been locked up in the facility. Nearly a week later, ICE wouldn’t even let Stanton into the building. Both lawmakers decried the obstruction in press conferences immediately afterward.

Gallego and Kelly have not made trips to the detention center so far this year and did not immediately respond to New Times' request for comment. Both have criticized President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda, and Gallego has spoken out against the detention of Kelly Yu, a Peoria business owner whom Stanton attempted to visit in Eloy.

Random spot visits to federal facilities are part of Congress’s job to conduct oversight of federal agencies, including ICE. According to the law, the Department of Homeland Security cannot “require a Member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility… for the purpose of conducting oversight.”

In late May, Ansari conducted one of those surprise visits. She received a three-hour tour of the facility, met with several detainees and brought back horror stories of overcrowding, cruel conditions and medical neglect. Ansari’s inspection was just one of several unannounced visits Democrats made to ICE facilities across the country.

Following an influx of surprise visits, DHS announced a new policy requiring members of Congress to provide a week’s notice before visiting any ICE facility. In July, despite providing the seven-day notice and required paperwork, Ansari was informed less than 24 hours before her visit that she wouldn’t be able to meet with detainees. Later that month, Stanton — who didn’t adhere to the new seven-day heads-up policy because the law does not require it— was denied entry at the door.

“It’s absurd,” Ansari said Sunday. “It’s happening across the country. Members of Congress are being outright denied.”

On June 30, a dozen members of the House of Representatives sued the Trump administration over its “unlawful obstruction of congressional oversight” and DHS’s seven-day waiting period policy. The plaintiffs, who don’t include Ansari or Stanton, are seeking a preliminary injunction to block the policy while the case plays out. No rulings have been made.

Both Ansari and Stanton have made it clear that they plan to return to the Eloy facility soon. Ansari said Sunday that she wants to return “ideally this month sometime, so we’re going to keep pushing.” In a press conference following his denial on July 25, Stanton said he plans to file the newly required heads-up paperwork and make another trip down to the facility, with hopefully better results.

This has quickly become a top issue for Ansari. She’s worried that conditions at Eloy will only worsen due to the passing of Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which boosted ICE’s budget by $75 billion, allowing the agency to dramatically increase the manpower with which it arrests immigrants.

“We’ve had more people reach out, more constituents and individuals who are trapped in Eloy,” she said. “This is a massive issue that is going to continue.”