Minnesota Democrats Demand Oversight After Ice Blocks Entry

Minnesota Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison hit back Saturday morning after they were denied entry to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, the latest clash between federal officials and Democrats seeking congressional oversight.

“The public deserves to know what is taking place in ICE facilities,” Omar wrote on X Saturday after confirming she’d been denied entry to a processing center earlier in the day.

The trio attempted to gain access to the ICE processing center at the Whipple federal building in Minneapolis. Morrison said they were initially allowed in by local officials “and then very abruptly were told to leave.” Commanding officers said the lawmakers could not stay and meet with detainees because funding for ICE comes via the One Big Beautiful Bill, Morrison said.

Craig also said they were told they could not access the facility because its funding was received via the One Big Beautiful Bill rather than congressional appropriations.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in a statement accused the three lawmakers of leading a group of protesters to the ICE facility "with the explicit goal of 'hunting down' ICE officers who they believed may have been staying there."

"For the safety of detainees and staff, and in compliance with the agency’s mandate, the Members of Congress were notified that their visit was improper and out of compliance with existing court orders and policies which mandate that members of Congress must notify ICE at least seven days in advance of Congressional visits," she said.

But in December 2025, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked policies that tried to restrict congressional visits — specifically by requiring seven days’ notice or deeming certain field offices off limits — because such requirements likely violated federal law stating that funds may not be used to prevent members from entering Department of Homeland Security facilities.

Craig presented the December court ruling to the agents at the facility, but “they refused to look at it,” she said on MS NOW. “I informed them that they were violating the law. They said they didn’t care.”

“Somali fraudsters have stolen millions from hardworking Minnesota taxpayers while Democrats looked the other way — now they’re desperately trying to distract from their failures with political stunts,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The incident comes amid rising tensions between Minnesota lawmakers and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts in the state. On Wednesday, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old Minnesota woman, in what federal officials have described as an act of self-defense. But local leaders in the state and Democrats throughout the country have strongly disputed that narrative, saying that Good was not a threat at the time of the fatal shooting. Both sides have argued that footage of the incident confirms their views.

Minnesota Democrats have routinely decried their lack of visibility into the subsequent federal investigation. After the FBI walked back its cooperation agreement to look into the shooting with Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, speaking alongside Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison at a press conference Friday, announced a state-level probe into Good’s death in conjunction with other state entities “so that our community can have transparency.”

Trump, asked Friday whether the FBI should be sharing evidence with state officials in Minnesota, indicated he wouldn’t because state leadership is “crooked.”

This is far from the first time Democratic lawmakers have been denied from exercising their oversight powers in immigration facilities. Among other clashes between members of Congress attempting to visit detention centers and ICE, New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver was indicted for interfering with federal immigration agents after a chaotic clash while trying to visit New Jersey’s Delaney Hall ICE facility in June.