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Three Democratic New York City federal lawmakers attempted to gain entry to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn — where as many as 100 illegal immigrants are being held, according to one state lawmaker.
Images posted Wednesday by the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) showed Reps. Adriano Espaillat, Nydia Velazquez and Daniel Goldman walking toward the MDC with the Gowanus Expressway in the background.
The NYIC said the lawmakers were refused entry to the prison, which has a history of high-profile inmates, including currently Sean “P. Diddy” Combs and Luigi Mangione, and formerly ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen and MSNBC host Al Sharpton after he was arrested for trespassing on a Puerto Rican bombing range in 2001.
“Masked agents refused [the lawmakers’] oversight access to Sunset Park [MDC] and have now trapped them between a fence and the facility,” NYIC tweeted.
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“They can’t get out or get in.”
A spokesperson for Espaillat told Fox News Digital officials “closed the gate and ran away for about 20-30 minutes.”
“No one could get in or out – either way – locking the members in for that time period.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Goldman and Velazquez for further comment or response.
Fox News Digital also reached out to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security for their accounting of the incident.
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The situation marks the third time in recent weeks that lawmakers have attempted to gain entry to otherwise secure federal holding facilities.
Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was arrested for allegedly accosting federal agents outside a jail in her home city of Newark.
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Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., speaks at a rally. (Getty)
McIver had been joined by several other lawmakers, including Rep. Robert Menendez Jr., D-N.J., son of the former senator, currently imprisoned separately on bribery charges.
Reps. Kweisi Mfume, Sarah Elfreth, Johnny Olzewski Jr. and Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., were all similarly rebuffed at a Baltimore ICE office where a handful of detained immigrants were reportedly being held.
ICE said at the time that the building, near Charles Center in the city’s downtown, is not a true holding facility and only a processing center.
In the Brooklyn case, New York Democrats have railed against ICE for some time for their use of the jail as a detention facility for illegal immigrants.
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, D-Bay Ridge, said in July that MDC Brooklyn recently began holding more than 100 detainees and claimed many have no criminal records.
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Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., ( Tom Williams/Roll Call/Getty Images)
“ICE is disappearing immigrants, many of whom have no criminal records, into a jail that a judge called ‘contemptuous of human life and dignity.’ That should appall all of us,” Gounardes said in a statement.
“This isn’t about public safety—it’s a show of force meant to instill fear in our communities and keep immigrants in the shadows. It’s incredibly dangerous, disturbing and un-American. It must end now.”
Prior to his visit Wednesday, Goldman – who served as Sen. Adam Schiff’s, D-Calif., lead attorney in the congressional impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump – lambasted the president for his administration’s decision to utilize the MDC.
“Rather than continuing the Biden administration’s efforts to boost staffing and reduce lockdowns at the MDC, the Trump administration has reversed those improvements and is now further overloading an already unsafe and understaffed facility with dozens of immigrants with no criminal history,” Goldman said.
According to ICE’s Office of Congressional Relations website, members of Congress need only submit a request via email at least seven days in advance of their desired visit.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson explained to Fox News Digital that the seven-day requirement is to “prevent interference with the President’s Article II authority to oversee executive department functions.”
The spokesperson also noted that “ICE law enforcement has seen a surge in assaults of 830%, as well as disruptions and obstructions to enforcement, including by politicians themselves” – in an apparent reference to McIver.
Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
