Members of Congress visiting ICE facilities are showing up for democracy
Opinion piece by Jim Townsend — The Hill — July 7, 2025
In 1940, Harry Truman, then a little-known U.S. senator from Missouri, drove 10,000 miles across the United States visiting military bases and contractors to find out, in-person, how billions of recently appropriated tax dollars were being spent to equip America to enter history’s biggest war. Truman went on to chair a special bipartisan committee charged with examining the war effort which uncovered billions in waste and fraud, saved countless lives, and helped make possible the Arsenal of Democracy that still serves to protect our country.
Members of Congress who have been trying to inspect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities are carrying on this vital tradition of “oversight by showing up,” where members make site visits — sometimes unannounced — to gather facts directly from the people and places where the work of government is being performed.
