Members Of Congress Denied Entry To Inspect Metropolitan Detention Center

By Idy Perl

Three members of Congress are speaking out after they were denied entry to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to conduct an oversight visit on Wednesday morning. 

The detention center is currently being used by the Department of Homeland Security to detain over 100 illegal immigrants. By law, members of congress can visit facilities used by the Department of Homeland Security to “detain or otherwise house aliens”, but two congressmen and a congresswoman were denied entry this morning and made to wait an hour outside the gate. 

They were told that they couldn’t enter as the facility is overseen by the Bureau of Prisons, which has different guidelines regarding visits. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said that members of congress are welcome but only with prior notice. 

“What they’re doing is an end-run around the law that permits us to inspect and observe immigration detention facilities,” Congressman Goldman said. “They clearly have something to hide. All we want to do is see what the conditions are.”