WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Lawmakers and the White House offered no signs of compromise Sunday in their battle over oversight of federal immigration officers that has led to a pause in funding for the Department of Homeland Security. A partial government shutdown began Saturday after congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump's team failed to reach a deal on legislation to fund the department through September.
Top officials from three immigration government agencies are expected to testify before the House Homeland Security Committee, amid heightened calls for oversight of DHS and as lawmakers debate changes to the department ahead of a Friday funding deadline. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting director Todd Lyons, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow will appear before the panel on Tuesday and return to Capitol Hill Thursday to testify before the Senate.
A federal judge has once again reined in the Trump administration by ordering, for the second time, that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allow members of Congress to conduct unannounced visits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers. The decision, issued Monday by District Court Judge Jia M. Cobb, temporarily blocks the requirement to give seven days' notice to inspect these facilities and reinforces the legislature's right to oversee the conditions in which thousands of people are held in federal custody.
The administration also closed two other offices with mandates to protect the public from misconduct-the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman and the Immigration Detention Ombudsman-saying the cuts were necessary to limit redundancy. Nonprofit groups sued, arguing that a department with more than 250,000 employees that interacts with 3 million to 4 million members of the public each day needed more oversight, not less.
Tens of millions of voters have had their citizenship status and other information checked using a revamped tool offered by the Trump administration, even as many states led by both Democrats and Republicans are refusing or hesitating to use it because of outstanding questions about the system. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says election officials have used the tool to check the information of more than 33 million voters
