Ansari Conducts Surprise Oversight Visit at ICE Phoenix Field Office

PHOENIX – Yesterday, Representative Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03) conducted her first oversight visit at the ICE Phoenix Field Office. This was Ansari’s thirteenth overall visit to detention facilities. “With Donald Trump and Stephen Miller's fascist and extremist mass deportation agenda with arbitrary quotas constantly that they are trying to hit, we know that rules have been broken and norms have been broken left and right, and we know that especially inside the detention centers in Arizona,” said Rep. Ansari. “I will continue to conduct this oversight. I do not support the fact that Donald Trump, with the support of every single Republican here in Arizona and Republicans in Congress, have now given 250 billion dollars to ICE and to CBP to terrorize people in communities.” Ansari’s oversight visit followed recent reporting from the Arizona Mirror that, between December 2025 and March 2026, ICE agents called 911 on 11 separate occasions to request medical assistance for detainees. The facility has no beds, no on-site medical services, limited access to food, and no showers accessible to detainees, despite holding times averaging more than 20 hours. WATCH Transcript of Ansari’s press conference remarks following her oversight visit: I conducted an oversight visit today at the Phoenix Field Office here in downtown Phoenix. This was my 13th oversight visit at an ice facility, and the reason I decided to come to this facility today was largely because of the reporting that the Arizona Mirror and other outlets have have done about the alarming conditions inside the facility, specifically the fact that between December of 2025 and March of 2026, we know there were 11 calls made to 911 for people having things like seizures and people having medical issues. The capacity is 155 people. My visit today was unannounced, and so ICE and nobody here knew that I was coming. The holding rooms look very similar to the way AROCC, which is the ICE holding facility in Mesa. There's a variety of rooms. They tell you exactly what the capacity in each room is, and within each holding cell there is a toilet, and there's water for the detainees who are held there. There's also designated rooms for family units, and there are some smaller cells in cases where I did learn that a minor could be held here, they would be put by themselves in one of those smaller cells. Unfortunately, with the Donald Trump Administration, with Donald Trump and Stephen Miller's fascist and extremist mass deportation agenda with arbitrary quotas constantly that they are trying to hit, we know that rules have been broken and norms have been broken left and right, and we know that especially inside the detention centers in Arizona, those include Eloy and the Florence Correctional Center, especially at the facilities that are run by these private prison companies, we know that people are being treated incredibly inhumanely. That there is a severe lack of access to quality medical care. That there is medical neglect. Nationally, there have been over 52 deaths in ICE custody since the Trump Administration began its reign of terror in January of 2025. That is unacceptable. I will continue to conduct this oversight. I do not support the fact that Donald Trump, with the support of every single Republican here in Arizona and Republicans in Congress, have given now 250 billion dollars to ICE and to CBP to terrorize people in communities to lock people up inside these detention centers to kill people with a lack of proper medical care and all of that while ripping away healthcare and food assistance from millions of Americans. I want to remind people that here in Arizona, we're seeing some of the worst impacts of these cuts. We have over 400,000 people who've lost access to food assistance here in the state of Arizona. 200,000 of those being children, and we will continue to fight to make sure that there are basic standards of human dignity met anywhere that our taxpayer dollars are funding. IN PRINT AZMirror : Ansari makes surprise visit to Phoenix ICE facility after Mirror report [Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, 9/9/26] When speaking with the Mirror, Ansari said she hopes her Republican colleagues also perform their oversight duties, and she warned about the possible sanitized tours that the agency provides to members of Congress. ICE previously moved detainees prior to visits. “I absolutely urge my Republican colleagues to conduct an oversight visit,” Ansari said. “I think it is really important but what I think is more important than going is getting an authentic sense of what is going on and not accepting a standard tour by the staff members of these facilities but actually talking with detainees.” KTAR News: Rep. Yassamin Ansari says ICE was allowed to ignore detainee limits for a year [David Iversen, 9/9/26] Rep. Yassamin Ansari conducted an unannounced oversight visit Wednesday at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Phoenix Field Office, where said she discovered that the Department of Homeland Security had quietly waived time and capacity limits at detention facilities nationwide for roughly a year. This is her 13th oversight visit at an ICE facility. “Up until a couple of months ago, DHS from the highest levels had sent down a waiver to every single ICE facility across the United States to say that it’s okay if the time limit for someone being held somewhere, the capacity limits are broken, and that waiver no longer exists,” Ansari said. “It was removed.” ABC15 : Congresswoman Ansari conducts surprise inspection of Phoenix ICE office [Manuelita Beck, 9/9/26] “There is so little visibility to the average American of what’s going on, and when so much of our taxpayer dollars are funding these facilities, it is incumbent upon members of Congress to keep conducting oversight,” she told reporters after her tour. KJZZ : Rep. Ansari pays surprise visit to Phoenix ICE field office following reports of long detentions [Camryn Sanchez, 9/9/26] “I feel like every time we do an oversight visit, we’re informed of a new rule of what we can or cannot do and talking with people here is one of the things that we’re no longer allowed to do,” Ansari said. Ansari says under the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security has undeniably violated the rules many times over. “We know that especially inside the detention centers — in Arizona those include Eloy and the Florence Correctional Center — especially at the facilities that are being run by these private prison companies, we know that people are being treated incredibly inhumanely,” Ansari said. Follow @RepYassAnsari on all social media platforms and visit Ansari.House.gov to learn more. ### Print Email Share