Three New York Members of Congress were denied entry to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn Wednesday morning, sparking outrage and renewed demands for federal oversight and transparency.
US Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Nydia Velázquez, and Dan Goldman arrived at the MDC on Aug. 6 for an unannounced visit to the facility, which currently holds more than 100 immigrants under a new agreement between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
The visit, intended to assess detainee conditions, quickly escalated. A federal officer locked the gate behind the group, trapping them briefly inside. Attorneys who arrived to visit clients were also turned away as the building went into lockdown.
“We asked the federal officer to remove his face covering and asked for his name,” Espaillat said. “He refused to give it to us. We did not know who we were speaking to. They were anonymous.”
This marks the second time the representatives have been denied entry to the facility — despite the legal right of members of Congress to make unannounced visits to detention centers under Section 5-27. In June, Espaillat and Velázquez made a visit to the ICE facility at 26 Federal Plaza and were turned away; last month, Goldman and US Rep. Jerry Nadler were also denied access to the same facility.
“This morning, we were denied our right to conduct oversight, in clear violation of the law,” Velázquez said on Aug. 6. “MDC Brooklyn has a long and shameful history of inhumane conditions, and now they are holding immigrants behind closed doors with no accountability.”
Velázquez also sharply criticized the Trump administration, saying, “They locked us in today. If they came for us like this… they will come for you and your families next.”
Goldman echoed the outrage, calling the denial a violation of constitutional authority.
“ICE is using a tactic of skating by the law to house immigrants,” he said. “The Trump administration’s lawless efforts to defy that constitutional authority are a gross abuse of power.”
Espaillat, who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said, “I won’t tolerate this lack of transparency, especially when the lives of immigrant detainees are at stake. This contract must be terminated now.”
Advocates from the ACLU, the New York Immigration Coalition, and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) who accompanied the lawmakers denounced the facility’s history of abuse, calling for urgent reform.
“MDC Brooklyn is a secretive, inhumane disaster,” said Daniel Lambright of NYCLU. “They wouldn’t let us in this morning, but we know what they are trying to hide.”
The group of lawmakers vowed to continue returning to the MDC until they are granted entry, and they are demanding an investigation into ICE’s contract with the detention center.
