Fact Check: "Congress passed a 2019 appropriations bill that spelled out the authority for members of Congress to enter federal immigration facilities."
What We Know
The claim that Congress passed a 2019 appropriations bill granting members of Congress the authority to enter federal immigration facilities is misleading. The relevant legislation, known as the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (H.J.Res.31), was signed into law on February 15, 2019. This act primarily focused on appropriations for various federal departments, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and did not explicitly grant or clarify the authority for Congressional access to immigration facilities (source-1).
In fact, the act includes provisions that limit the use of funds for certain law enforcement activities and does not address Congressional oversight or access directly. The act does provide appropriations for the operations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but it does not mention or establish a framework for Congressional access to these facilities (source-1).
Analysis
The assertion that the appropriations bill provides authority for Congressional access to immigration facilities lacks direct support from the text of the law. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 does not contain any provisions that explicitly allow or require DHS to grant access to members of Congress for oversight purposes. Instead, it focuses on funding and operational directives for various agencies without addressing the issue of access (source-1).
Moreover, the introduction of the Public Oversight of Detention Centers (POD) Act by Rep. Jason Crow in 2019 highlights the ongoing challenges members of Congress faced in accessing immigration detention facilities. This act was introduced specifically to ensure that Congress could access these facilities within 48 hours of a request, indicating that such access was not guaranteed under existing laws at that time (source-2). The need for this legislation suggests that the appropriations bill did not provide the necessary authority for Congressional oversight.
The sources used in this analysis are credible, with the primary source being the official congressional record of the appropriations act itself. The introduction of the POD Act further corroborates the claim that access was a contentious issue, reinforcing the conclusion that the appropriations bill did not grant this authority.
Conclusion
Verdict: False. The claim that Congress passed a 2019 appropriations bill that spelled out the authority for members of Congress to enter federal immigration facilities is incorrect. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 does not contain provisions for such access, and the subsequent introduction of the POD Act indicates that this access was not assured under the law at that time.
