DHS deputy assistant secretary rebuts viral 'Taco Bell' hoax, says one-week notice required for ICE detention visits

Lauren Biss, deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that several online claims this week are false and clarified the departments procedures for visits to immigration detention facilities.

Biss opened by saying, "I'm Lauren Biss, deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, and I'm here to set the record straight on a few fake news stories from this week." She called a social-media post by immigration attorney Trisha Chatterjee that claimed ICE provided her a phone number for a Taco Bell "a total lie," and said ICE attempted to contact Chatterjee after the post but that, according to Biss, "she made no attempt to contact the agency."

The clarification mattered, Biss said, because online misinformation can affect public understanding of enforcement actions and the safety of officers. She also denied a separate viral claim that "Home Depot had a contract with DHS," saying, "This is false. DHS does not have a contract with Home Depot." Biss attributed the false claims to efforts to "smear our brave ICE law enforcement," and cited what she described as an "830% increase in assaults against them."

Biss addressed reports that members of Congress from so-called sanctuary jurisdictions were denied entry to the Baltimore ICE facility, calling those reports "outrageous." She said visitors seeking to tour detention facilities "could have just scheduled a tour" and described the departments timing expectation: "For visits to detention facilities, requests should be made with sufficient time to prevent interference with the president's Article II authority to oversee executive department functions. A week is sufficient to ensure no intrusion on the president's constitutional authority." She added that requests to shorten that one-week period "must be approved by the secretary."

The statements in Biss's remarks are presented as clarifications and procedural direction from DHS; the transcript records no formal policy text or new regulation adopted during the statement. Biss concluded by saying she would return with further debunks next week.

Biss's remarks combine corrective claims (that specific viral items were false), attribution of motive (that the claims were attempts to smear ICE), and a procedural directive about how much advance notice DHS expects for tours of detention facilities. The transcript does not record supporting evidence for the cited 830% figure, nor does it provide a text of a written DHS policy change; those details were asserted verbally in the statement and are reported here as Biss's claims.