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Homeland Security and Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026.Section 5 › Proposal

Members of Congress may not be kept out of detention facilities

Making further consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes, section 5, Sec. 5. Written by .

Members of Congress may not be kept out of detention facilities

The document says “may notWho acts: Secretary of Homeland SecurityHow: statuteSec. 5 in the PDF
What the document says

“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Homeland Security by this Act may be used to prevent any of the following persons from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens”

Making further consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes, Sec. 5

Section 546(a). Money in this Act may not be used to stop a member of Congress, or an employee of either chamber designated by a member for this purpose, from entering a facility run by or for the department that detains or houses aliens, when they are there to conduct oversight. The same subsection bars any temporary modification at such a facility that alters what a visiting member or designated employee would otherwise observe.

What the document actually says

“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Homeland Security by this Act may be used to prevent any of the following persons from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens”

Making further consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes, Sec. 5
That sentence, in plain words

The department may not block a member of Congress from a detention site. The visit must be for oversight.

What this is about

The rule also bars dressing the place up for a visit. What a member sees must be what is normally there.

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