A demonstration at federal immigration headquarters in Minneapolis turned into a political spectacle Saturday after Minnesota Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig, and Kelly Morrison were denied entry and escorted out of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which houses the regional ICE office and immigration court.
The lawmakers arrived unannounced, telling reporters they intended to conduct “oversight” amid heightened scrutiny of immigration enforcement following a fatal ICE-involved shooting earlier in the week.
Video posted online showed security personnel blocking the congresswomen from entering the ICE processing center. They were later permitted a brief walk-through of the lobby but then ordered to leave after officials said they lacked authorization to access secure areas.
“I was just denied access to the ICE processing center at the Whipple Building,” Omar wrote on X. “Members of Congress have a legal right and constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight where people are being detained. The public deserves to know what is taking place in ICE facilities.”
KMSP-TV confirmed the lawmakers were escorted from the premises.
Rep. Angie Craig later told MSNOW, “We were told because this facility is being funded by the Big Beautiful Bill, not the congressional appropriations act, that we would not be allowed to enter the facility. That’s complete nonsense. I informed them they were violating the law. They said they didn’t care.”
Rep. Kelly Morrison said the same rationale was given, citing the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, which funds federal enforcement sites directly under executive control.
Administration officials defended the decision, saying the members were not part of an authorized oversight review. “Oversight must follow the law,” a senior Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said. “These members were not on any approved review team, and the facility was under operational security status at the time.”
The confrontation came just days after Minneapolis drew national attention when an activist was fatally shot by an ICE agent. The incident fueled protests and tensions throughout the city.
Hours later, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) escalated scrutiny on Omar, saying she remains “at the top of the suspect list” in Minnesota’s expanding welfare fraud scandals.
Comer told journalist Alison Steinberg that formal ethics complaints against Omar are expected, adding that “any member of Congress that’s getting money unethically or illegally” should be investigated by the bipartisan Ethics Committee.
“Anybody that has information on a member of Congress, bring that to the Ethics Committee, and they’ll investigate it,” Comer said. “We need to hold them accountable.”
The controversy follows revelations from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), who said Omar secured a $1 million earmark for a supposed substance abuse clinic “housed inside a restaurant and run by three individuals who share the same residential address.” The earmark has since been stripped from the spending bill.
Comer also highlighted financial questions surrounding Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett, whose firm Rose Lake Capital saw its valuation rise from under $1,000 in 2023 to between $5 million and $25 million in 2024. The firm recently removed names of prominent Democratic figures from its website.
“Minnesota has become the epicenter of one of the largest taxpayer thefts in U.S. history,” Comer said. “We’re going to find out who was involved, who looked the other way, and who got rich off it.”
Between being kicked out of an ICE facility and facing ethics scrutiny in Congress, Omar now finds herself under mounting pressure — both at home and in Washington.
