Long Island House members split over crackdown on Congress visits to ICE facilities

Members of Long Island's House delegation fell along party lines Sunday over new Trump administration efforts to bar Congress from making impromptu inspections of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem issued a policy on Thursday mandating members of the House and Senate to submit requests to inspect the cells holding detained people at ICE facilities at least seven days in advance. The move came just weeks after a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a previous version of the policy, determining it was likely illegal to demand a week’s notice from Congress members. 

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), who visited the holding cells in Central Islip on Monday, said in a statement Sunday to Newsday: "Members of Congress have a constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight, which keeps everyone on their toes, and promotes lawful behavior. ... Restricting the role of Congress is a mistake."

Noem’s advanced notice requirement, Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) told Newsday, was "far less onerous" than when federal officials under former President Joe Biden would not let him visit a U.S. Navy lieutenant in federal jail until he threatened to make a public issue of it at the facility's entrance.

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) and Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) did not respond to requests for comment about Noem’s directive.

The secretary made the announcement a day after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, sparking protests and vigils nationwide,  including outside the Nassau County Executive Building in Mineola on Sunday.

ICE facilities have come under increased scrutiny since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and ramped up efforts aimed at deporting people in the country illegally, with a focus on violent criminals. As of November, ICE had detained close to 67,000 people nationwide, nearly 74% of whom had no criminal convictions, according to Syracuse University's Transactional Records Clearinghouse.

By law, members of Congress can visit ICE facilities without giving notice. In June, Noem first laid out the rules requiring seven days advanced notice before a congressional visit. A dozen Democratic members of Congress were then blocked from visiting ICE facilities and sued the Trump administration to regain access without having to let the authorities know ahead of time.

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, nominated by former President Joe Biden, in December ruled in favor of the lawmakers, writing that they "have an interest in facts about whether facilities are overcrowded or unsanitary, whether the staff is engaging in abuse, or the location of constituents or their family members."

Separately, U.S. District Court Judge Gary R, Brown, in the Eastern District, who was appointed by Trump during the president's first term, demanded that ICE explain the "abhorrent and likely unlawful" conditions in Central Islip, and a federal prosecutor announced that ICE would no longer hold people in cells there overnight.

In the past year, more than 100 people detained in the Central Islip holding cells have slept around single toilets in each one that Suozzi said measure about 15 feet by 8 feet, without access to a shower, soap or medical care, Newsday previously reported. Suozzi said after his Monday inspection that the cells in Central Islip no longer held detainees and were clean.

In November, Suozzi visited the Nassau County Correctional Center in East Meadow, where officials have held more than 2,200 people and a 42-year-old immigrant father died. Democrats in the New York State Assembly and Senate, who under law are allowed to visit correctional facilities "at their pleasure," visited the East Meadow cells last summer after initially being denied access.

In his Sunday statement, Suozzi said: "Secretary Noem’s directive seems defensive. What is there to hide?"

Outside Nassau County headquarters in Mineola on Sunday, more than a hundred people gathered for a prayer vigil honoring Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother of three fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, and called for an end to Nassau’s agreement with ICE.

"We are no different than the peaceful protesters who were in Minneapolis," said Ali Mirza, founder and president of Americans of Pakistani Heritage.

Mirza, who has worked for former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and Suozzi, has run for county legislator and Congress.

Newsday reported in December that Nassau violated its contract with ICE, detaining hundreds of people — more than 60% of whom did not have a criminal record — for longer than legally permitted.

Another speaker said the ongoing immigration issue has led to disagreements with people she cares about.

"It is hard to stand in opposition to friends, family and neighbors," Hempstead activist Kiana Bierria-Anderson, 32, told others at the vigil. 

"It is lonely. It is difficult. But it is necessary."