Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said President Donald Trump is risking a “civil war” by not allowing Congress members to visit Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers.
Waters visited the Metropolitan Detention Center and Department of Homeland Security Field Office in Los Angeles, California, on Monday with her colleagues, Reps. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Judy Chu (D-CA), and Jimmy Gomez (D-CA).
While Waters, Gomez, and Chu were previously denied entry, they received a tour this time as part of their congressional oversight authority. During their tour, they said they only saw two detainees and could not speak to them. Gomez accused ICE of “hiding the truth and blocking real oversight” during a press conference after the tour.
Waters said, “Words mean nothing, actions mean everything. Watch this, watch it very closely, ask a lot of questions.”
Rep. Maxine Waters says President Trump is trying to lead America to “civil war” with his anti-illegal immigration, violent crime policies. pic.twitter.com/QrYjieDgey
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 11, 2025
“Focus those cameras on everything that’s going on because this president is trying to lead us into what could be called the civil war,” she added.
DHS clarified in a statement to the Washington Examiner that the B-18 field office visited by the lawmakers “is [a] processing center where illegal aliens are briefly processed to be transferred to an ICE detention facility,” where “no individual was detained for 12 days at a processing center.”
“Now, politicians are complaining about ICE processing facilities being TOO CLEAN. I guess they were just shocked that allegations they have all peddled about bugs in food, lack of proper medical care, and lack of quality water were FALSE,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said.
“The truth is, most ICE facilities have higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens. Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE,” she added.
McLaughlin praised the new ICE facilities in Florida and Indiana for their ability to prevent “overcrowding.”
“ICE has worked diligently to obtain greater necessary detention space while avoiding overcrowding. Thanks to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill and innovative partnerships like Alligator Alcatraz and Speedway Slammer, we’ve significantly expanded detention space to house the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens,” she said.
Waters has led similar demonstrations since Trump took office. In March, she was denied entry to the Housing and Urban Development headquarters and led another protest against cuts at the agency, with advocates of affordable housing gathering outside its building in Washington, D.C.
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Waters had planned to confront HUD Secretary Scott Turner about the matter, but never got the chance. Instead, Turner called the visit a “political stunt.”
Before being turned away at HUD’s headquarters, Waters led a protest outside the Department of Education, during which she was testy with security guards who would not let her in.
