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.
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Members of Congress may not be kept out of detention facilities
The document says “may not”Who 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”
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”
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.
No action is recorded against this proposal. That is not evidence that none has been taken, and nobody has yet read it against the record. See what the tracker does not yet cover.
Homeland Security and Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026., Public Law 119-86, sec. 5, 140 Stat. 774 (2026). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ86/html/PLAW-119publ86.htm
This page
“Members of Congress may not be kept out of detention facilities,” Homeland Security and Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026., section 5, Sec. 5. Read the Mandate, https://readthemandate.org/homeland-security-further-additional-continuing/proposal/sec05-sec546-congressional-oversight-access/ (retrieved October 10, 2026).
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