'I Am Simply Outraged': Despite 8-Day Notice, Jayapal Blocked From Oversight Visit at ICE Detention Center

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https://www.commondreams.org/news/pramila-jayapal-ice-facility

‘I Am Simply Outraged’: Despite 8-Day Notice, Jayapal Blocked From Oversight Visit at ICE Detention Center

“This only makes me more certain that DHS and these private for-profit contractors have a lot to hide.”

BRAD REED
Feb 20, 2026

Rep. Pramila Jayapal on Thursday expressed fury at the Trump administration after she was prohibited from conducting oversight at a immigration detention center in Tacoma, Washington despite giving the facility the required eight days notice prior to her visit.

In a statement posted on social media, Jayapal (D-Wash.) said that officials at the the Northwest Detention Center blocked her from meeting with people being held at the facility, even in cases where she had obtained privacy release forms.

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Jayapal said she also heard complaints from people at the facility about “inadequate medical treatment, overcrowding, and inedible food,” and then lashed out at the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for impeding members of Congress from conducting proper oversight of its detention centers.

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