{"id":139136,"date":"2025-08-12T07:53:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T07:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/139136\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T07:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T07:53:09","slug":"california-lawmakers-finally-tour-an-la-immigration-detention-center-heres-what-they-saw-daily-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/139136\/","title":{"rendered":"California lawmakers finally tour an LA immigration detention center. Here\u2019s what they saw \u2013 Daily News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some Democratic members from Los Angeles\u2019 congressional delegation who toured an immigration detention center in downtown L.A. this week \u2014 two months after House members <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocregister.com\/2025\/06\/07\/southern-california-democrats-say-they-were-denied-entry-to-a-federal-detention-center-in-downtown-la\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">first attempted to check out conditions<\/a> inside the facility but were denied access \u2014 described what they saw and learned as \u201cinhumane\u201d and \u201cdisturbing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Reps. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynews.com\/2024\/10\/14\/brad-sherman-congress-district-32-candidate-2024-election-questionnaire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Brad Sherman<\/a>, Jimmy Gomez and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sgvtribune.com\/2024\/10\/14\/judy-chu-congress-district-28-candidate-2024-election-questionnaire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Judy Chu<\/a> visited the Metropolitan Detention Center, and then met with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at a field office next door on Monday, Aug. 11.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"mng-gallery-initialized mng-gallery-slider\">\n<li data-index=\"1\" class=\"mng-ge mng-gallery-active\" id=\"mng-ge-0\" aria-hidden=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><img alt=\"Sarah Banks, of West Hills, attends Reps. Jimmy Gomez, Brad...\" class=\"size-article_inline\"  \/>\n<p>Sarah Banks, of West Hills, attends Reps. Jimmy Gomez, Brad Sherman, Judy Chu and Maxine Waters\u2019 press conference after Gomez, Sherman and Chu toured the U.S. Department of Homeland Security\u2019s Metropolitan Detention Center and DHS field office in Los Angeles on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025 to check on detention conditions and immigration enforcement practices. Banks is a member of Woodland Hills Indivisible which holds a protest every Sat. at the corner of Topanga Avenue and Victory Boulevard in Woodland Hills. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"2\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Rep. Jimmy Gomez speaks to members of Woodland Hills Indivisible...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/LDN-L-DHS-DETENTION-0812-04-SR.jpg\" \/>\n<p>Rep. Jimmy Gomez speaks to members of Woodland Hills Indivisible after he spoke to the press after touring the U.S. Department of Homeland Security\u2019s Metropolitan Detention Center and DHS field office in Los Angeles on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025 to check on detention conditions and immigration enforcement practices. Members of congress said that they only saw two detainees and that detainees are sleeping on concrete floors. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"3\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-2\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Reps. Judy Chu and Maxine Waters speak to the press...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/LDN-L-DHS-DETENTION-0812-03-SR.jpg\" \/>\n<p>Reps. Judy Chu and Maxine Waters speak to the press after Reps. Jimmy Gomez, Brad Sherman and Chu toured the U.S. Department of Homeland Security\u2019s Metropolitan Detention Center and DHS field office in Los Angeles on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025 to check on detention conditions and immigration enforcement practices. They reported that they only saw two detainees and that detainees are sleeping on concrete floors. Waters was not let in the federal building. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"4\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-3\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Andrea Fields, of Woodland Hills, and Sarah Banks, of West...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/LDN-L-DHS-DETENTION-0812-05-SR.jpg\" \/>\n<p>Andrea Fields, of Woodland Hills, and Sarah Banks, of West Hills, are removed from federal property by DHS police as they wait for Reps. Jimmy Gomez, Brad Sherman, Judy Chu and Maxine Waters to hold a press conference after Gomez, Sherman and Chu toured the U.S. Department of Homeland Security\u2019s Metropolitan Detention Center and DHS field office in Los Angeles on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025 to check on detention conditions and immigration enforcement practices. Banks is a member of Woodland Hills Indivisible which holds a protest every Sat. at the corner of Topanga Avenue and Victory Boulevard in Woodland Hills. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 4<\/p>\n<p>Sarah Banks, of West Hills, attends Reps. Jimmy Gomez, Brad Sherman, Judy Chu and Maxine Waters\u2019 press conference after Gomez, Sherman and Chu toured the U.S. Department of Homeland Security\u2019s Metropolitan Detention Center and DHS field office in Los Angeles on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025 to check on detention conditions and immigration enforcement practices. Banks is a member of Woodland Hills Indivisible which holds a protest every Sat. at the corner of Topanga Avenue and Victory Boulevard in Woodland Hills. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Most of the nine holding cells in the detention facility were empty, and there were two toilets but no beds, meaning people who are detained there for up to 72 hours must sleep on the cold, concrete floors, the congressmembers told reporters after their tours.<\/p>\n<p>Only two detainees were in the holding cells at the time of their visit, but the visiting officials weren\u2019t allowed to talk to them, the congressmembers said as they accused the Trump administration of providing a \u201csanitized version\u201d of the conditions that detainees experienced at the height of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynews.com\/tag\/immigration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">immigration raids<\/a> in June.<\/p>\n<p>ICE did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment for this article.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the House members involved in Monday\u2019s activities had previously attempted to check out the facility as a member of Congress conducting oversight, but were denied entry.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t until after House members had given federal agencies seven days of advance notice of their visit that the lawmakers were let in, they said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGod knows what they had to hide,\u201d said Sherman, who represents the San Fernando Valley.<\/p>\n<p>By law, members of Congress are allowed to make unannounced visits to federal immigration facilities that \u201cdetain or otherwise house aliens\u201d as part of their oversight authority. But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynews.com\/2025\/06\/19\/southern-california-lawmakers-say-new-ice-limits-on-congressional-visits-to-facilities-undermining-the-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">a new policy<\/a> that was recently implemented said ICE field offices aren\u2019t subject to those requirements, even if detainees are housed there.<\/p>\n<p>Gomez, who represents downtown L.A. and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynews.com\/2025\/06\/10\/how-is-southern-californias-congressional-delegation-responding-to-las-protests\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">had been denied entry to the downtown detention center three previous times<\/a> before this week, is one of about a dozen House members <a href=\"https:\/\/democracyforward.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1-Neguse-v.-ICE-Complaint.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">suing the Trump administration<\/a> to force it to comply with existing law.<\/p>\n<p>He said Monday after the tour that the place was nearly empty \u201cso that members of Congress could not conduct oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey invited us in when there was nobody there \u2026 because they didn\u2019t want us to see what was going on several months ago. It\u2019s like, I\u2019ll invite you over to my house, and it will be spotless by the time you get there,\u201d Gomez said.<\/p>\n<p>Recent data show that nationwide, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocregister.com\/2025\/08\/07\/immigration-arrests-dropped-in-july-but-activists-work-continues-in-l-a-area\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">federal immigration arrests dipped in July<\/a> following a court order barring arrests without probable cause.<\/p>\n<p>ICE averaged 990 arrests a day across the country between July 1 and 27, down 19% from June, according to data obtained by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan research center at Syracuse University.<\/p>\n<p>As of Aug. 1, data released by ICE showed 3,459 people were being held at the six California immigration detention facilities, including 351 at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, 416 at Desert View Annex in Adelanto, and 1,360 at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego.<\/p>\n<p>Chu, who is from the San Gabriel Valley, had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HaRYIv1O2yY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">also attempted \u2014 unsuccessfully \u2014 to enter<\/a> the downtown L.A. facility in June. She said some of the responses from the federal agents they spoke with on Monday contrasted with what she had heard previously from detainees.<\/p>\n<p>For example, she said some detainees told her they were housed at the downtown facility for up to 12 days and were given just one meal a day but no soap, toothpaste or toothbrush. ICE agents, on the other hand, told Chu this week that detainees are only held there up to three days and fed three meals a day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey showed us their food pantry,\u201d Chu said. \u201cIt looked pretty scanty to me, like there was hardly anything there, but they were making it sound like you could just knock on the window and get another meal. No, that\u2019s not what the detainees told us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The congressmembers \u2014 which included Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, who joined the press conference but did not attend the earlier tour of the detention center \u2014 said there are more questions still to be answered.<\/p>\n<p>Their visit this week comes more than two months after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynews.com\/2025\/06\/10\/a-timeline-of-immigration-raid-protests-in-los-angeles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">series of immigration raids in L.A. County in early June<\/a> set off days of mass protests that in turn led to President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynews.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Donald Trump<\/a> sending in National Guard troops and active-duty Marines.<\/p>\n<p>There is currently a federal court order limiting immigration-enforcement arrests in Southern California, though immigrant rights advocates have raised concerns of continued raids, including one in L.A.\u2019s MacArthur Park area last week in which Department of Homeland Security personnel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynews.com\/2025\/08\/06\/despite-court-order-immigration-raid-leads-to-16-arrests-in-las-macarthur-park-area\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">jumped out of a Penske rental truck<\/a>. U.S. Border Patrol dubbed it the \u201cTrojan Horse\u201d operation.<\/p>\n<p>Originally Published: August 11, 2025 at 12:02 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some Democratic members from Los Angeles\u2019 congressional delegation who toured an immigration detention center in downtown L.A. this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":139137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,327,409,2961,224,6080,5337,17259,50,80,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-139136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-congress","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-county","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-national-politics","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115014716980505678","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}