Pasadena Congresswoman, Congressional Delegation Denied Entry to Adelanto ICE Facility

Rep. Judy Chu, who represents Pasadena and surrounding and who led a congressional delegation that was denied entry to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center last week, is demanding accountability from federal immigration officials.

Chu, along with Rep. Gilbert Ray Cisneros Jr. and Rep. Derek T. Tran, sent a letter dated June 11 to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons condemning the agencies for blocking their ‘legally authorized oversight visit’ to the San Bernardino County facility.

The three California representatives attempted to inspect the detention center following immigration raids throughout Los Angeles County.

Chu said that despite federal law under P.L. 118-47 guaranteeing Members of Congress access to Department of Homeland Security facilities for oversight purposes, facility employees locked the front gate and denied entry even after the delegation waited nearly two hours.

The congressional letter states that “The Department of Homeland Security is prohibited by Congress from preventing Members of Congress and their staff from entering, for the purposes of conducting oversight, any detention facility.” The letter notes that “This denial of entry was unlawful as it defied the express ability for Members of Congress to access DHS facilities without prior notice.”

In a separate statement, Chu said, “For nearly a decade, I’ve visited Adelanto because of its notorious history of violating detainees’ basic human and constitutional rights. Unfortunately, it appears that Adelanto’s inhumane track record continues as we hear reports that detainees rounded up after Trump’s ICE raids in Los Angeles are being denied their right to due process and that even U.S. citizens may have been detained. And yet, our attempts as Members of Congress to conduct oversight at Adelanto, which is expressly permitted by law, were unlawfully denied, blocking us from getting the truth about what’s going on behind illegally closed doors. Regardless of immigration status, everyone has a right to due process. We need answers now.”

The denial contradicts statements made by Acting Director Lyons during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on May 14, when he acknowledged that “We do acknowledge that any Member of Congress has the right to show up for an inspection at one of our facilities in their oversight capability.”

DHS and ICE officials also failed to respond to repeated attempts by the congressional delegation to make contact through in-person visits, phone calls and emails, according to the letter.

The letter states that officials “failed to respond to our repeated attempts to make contact, further impeding our ability to conduct congressional oversight.”

The congressional letter demands answers by June 16 to three specific questions. The representatives want DHS’s justification for denying entry to conduct oversight, an explanation of why DHS or ICE representatives were unavailable to respond to in-person, phone and email communications, and a point of contact for the Adelanto ICE Processing Center that can be reached outside normal business hours.

The letter also seeks detailed information about the current detainee population, specifically inquiring about the number of detainees currently held at the facility and the number of new detainees who have arrived since June 6. The representatives want to know if any detainees have filed official complaints regarding their treatment since June 6, requesting that all official complaints and any action taken to address legitimate complaints be shared.

Additional questions focus on due process protections, asking whether all detainees currently at Adelanto have been given the opportunity to meet with an attorney and whether language access has been provided at any point during processing. The letter seeks deportation statistics, asking how many detainees who were at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center have been deported since Jan. 20.

The Adelanto ICE Processing Center is operated by a private contractor under ICE oversight and houses immigration detainees awaiting court proceedings or deportation.

Chu represents California’s 28th Congressional District, which includes Pasadena, Altadena, San Marino and other San Gabriel Valley communities. Cisneros represents the 31st District and Tran represents the 45th District.