Rep. Ansari says ICE refused her request to speak with constituents detained in Eloy

Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari says she was denied access to constituents held at an immigration detention center south of Phoenix.

ICE is legally required to give members of Congress access to immigration detention facilities for oversight visits.

That included surprise visits, until the agency released new guidance last month curtailing access.

Under the June ICE memo, lawmakers must now give 72 hours notice of an oversight visit. They are also required to seek advanced permission if they want to speak to anyone in the facility.

In a video posted to social media this week, Ansari said less than 24 hours before a trip she’d planned to the Eloy Detention Center on Saturday, ICE told she couldn’t come.

“As Democrats showed up to ICE centers, the Department of Homeland Security tried to stop us, by changing their guidance to try and prevent us from showing up unannounced. We will not back down and we will keep showing up to hold them accountable,” she said.

The Saturday trip was a follow up visit from an initial, unannounced visit to the Eloy center in May — when Ansari said she met with several women being detained there who detailed issues including one incident in which they said they were forced to walk laps outside without access to water.

Ansari sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security outlining the complaints in June. And she said during this visit, she’d planned to speak with detained constituents and had given ICE seven days notice. But, her request was denied.

ICE did not respond to requests for comment or questions about the denied visit.