Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, was trying to play a mediating role between protestors and a hunger strike being conducted at the ICE detention center, Delaney Hall, in Newark.
Kim was allowed in only after calling Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a former Senate colleague.
"18-year-old high school student crying and saying she just wanted to graduate senior year."
"Our government should focus on helping Americans afford their lives, not lock people up in for-profit detention centers," he said.