🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a jud

[In It to Win It]

Last edited Wed Jan 21, 2026, 07:01 PM - Edit history (1)

🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a judicial warrant, which DHS's own legal training materials say is unconstitutional!

ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.

— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) 2026-01-21T22:00:51.815Z

ICE secretly told its officers that any time someone has been ordered removed, ICE can break down their door.

It has been accepted for generations that the only thing which can authorize agents to break into your home is a warrant signed by a judge. No wonder ICE hid this memo!

— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social) 2026-01-21T22:09:28.907Z

I try to avoid hyperbole when it comes to Trump policies, but this is absolutely frickin’ insane—on about eleventy different levels.

Massive, systemic Fourth Amendment violations because … reasons.

— Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) 2026-01-21T22:28:39.987Z

[Blues Heron]

1. When the chief executive has immunity the entire administration has immunity- he can pardon them.

[malaise]

2. This is huge - get thee to the greatest page

Rec

[yellow dahlia]

3. Huge!

[yellow dahlia]

4. At what point will a court do something?

The appeals court just gave them permission to continue their "tactics" in MN.

[Pinback]

30. At what point will Republicans in Congress do something?

I know, I know, but this is so blatantly unconstitutional it should qualify as a “break the glass” moment even for them.

[yellow dahlia]

32. It truly should be a red line for the members of Congress.

[slightlv]

41. For whom? ICE? Congress?

We already know the repugs are all in on this, except for a few of them like Kinsinger. ICE is composed of the nazi militia groups, and stupid kids needing money with no skills other than their fists and guns. What surprises me is that someone actually blew the whistle on it.

We have a constitution on paper. It's written about it books - until those books disappear in fires, and are rewritten by this administration. We have a few judges who are willing to put their lives on the line for the law, but the law is failing us overall. They have the right and permission now to harm peaceful protestors, thanks to another judge. I agree this is a break the glass moment, but who is going to break the glass and how?

[Pinback]

43. It is of course a rhetorical question.

Unfortunately.

[slightlv]

48. You're right, of course, Pinback.

But I'm nearly in tears here wondering how it stops being rhetorical and morphs into something more active before we're all killed. All my life I've been on the side of diplomacy, peaceful negotiations... marching and protesting; chanting and singing. But man, those were the days of innocence compared to today. I retired my rose colored glasses a long time ago. But my feelings of impotence just make me sick. I'm a nobody. Worse... I'm an old nobody. Living on SS, I don't even have enough money to make an economic impact on anyone. It just strikes my heart and sorely offends my sense of justice and hatred of bullies.

[Shipwack]

51. My sense of justice has also been offended, for many years.

Sadly.

[bluestarone]

5. Normally HUGE, BUT

I'm thinking well, NOT WITH THESE GOONS!!

[2naSalit]

6. WTF?!?

[poli-junkie]

7. No one is safe.

[calimary]

59. Sheesh - that sums it up.

And as long as the Donald can walk, talk, and breathe air, that’s what we all are forced to live with.

[SheltieLover]

8. This must stop!

[The Blue Flower]

9. This behavior started a revolution 250 years ago

Are we up for it again?

[OldBaldy1701E]

11. I will refrain from saying what I think about that statement.

But, I am hopeful that my position will be proved wrong.

[sop]

16. Honest question...

[malthaussen]

18. No. n/t

[Moostache]

44. A massive stroke? Heart attack? Fall from heights?

Short of him finally dying, no, there is no hope. He knows if he loses the presidency he dies in prison or on trial for the rest of his life. Given his declining cognition and appearance and health, him dying is the only hope right now and the longer he lingers in this decline, the less likely even that becomes to save the world from WWIII and the US from Civil War II.

[slightlv]

49. I wish, but honestly, No. n/t

[OldBaldy1701E]

57. Not at this point.

I am wondering just how long the others are going to take before they realize it as well.

The damage being done while we wait for that realization is going to be catastrophic if it takes much longer.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, we went through the same thing. There were a number of people who just did not want to change things even when their neighbors were being killed and/or hauled away for conscription. They were certain that the 'system' was going to fix things, while (just as today) not realizing that what needed to be fixed was the system.

Oh well... we can hope that the final damages won't be as bad as I am thinking they will be.

[SamuelTheThird]

10. This should be the top story

[Moostache]

47. It should be the ONLY story. But its not...

Trumpstein files? Late...
Davos? Disastrous...
EU allies? Pissed...
Canada, Mexico and the rest of the Western Hemisphere? Looking to China and away from USA...

And at home, our whores in the GOP majority on the Kangaroo SCOTUS and the entirety of the GOP caucus in the Congress have abdicated all authority to a demented, painted clown with the disposition and maturity of a 7th grade mean girl with her first unlocked phone...

So a little old thing like the government shitting on the Constitution, shredding our rights and murdering citizens on camera is not enough to force them cover this train wreck honestly and with appropriate investigative journalism and real fact finding instead of mere influence and access peddling.

The media, the GOP and a good portion of non-GOP sometimes voters are also worthless whores in this catastrophe.

[slightlv]

50. The media is repuglican. Bush made sure of that

when he allowed the rules of ownership to be changed.

[Duncan Grant]

12. I can pilfer your house for valuables, too. (You won't need them.)

I mean, really — who’s going to stop me?

[blue_jay]

64. Too true, they're already costing people money by damaging their cars (windows, seatbelts, etc.)

using our tax dollars to do it while not giving us the basic services that we entrust our collective money to provide.

[erronis]

13. And the Roberts court knew that this would happen. They are behind this abomination.

[dalton99a]

14. Kick

[paleotn]

15. Maybe it's different across the country...

but I know several places where doing that could easily result in ICE goons getting their fucking asses shot off.

Careful, goobers. Someone might just do society a favor.

[Farmer-Rick]

20. First time I visited Appalachia in TN

We Got lost....this was before cell phones, though cell reception may not even be available today, but that's another story...there was an old rickety cabin with a short driveway. We thought we would ask for directions there. A man with a long beard, in coveralls and a riffle stepped out onto the front porch and waved the rifle at the us. We slowly backed out of the driveway and found our own way out.

Good luck to pedo Trump's goon squads trying to grab them up.

[Ilsa]

31. That happened to me in Texas.

I was making a home health visit to a home in the country on dirt roads and no addresses, just turns and cattle guards. I got out of my car, locked it, and then came the hell hounds! I had to climb to the highest hood of my car to keep from getting bitten. The owner came out with a rifle. Thankfully, I was in my uniform or my family would still be looking for my body. Obviously, I stopped at the wrong house.

[Pinback]

33. That dude may have had a whiskey still out back.

One set of my grandparents lived not far from folks fitting this description, and they would have sure as hell shot before asking.

[allegorical oracle]

25. Unless the goons were in local sheriff or highway patrol cars, my rural neighbors

likely would be firing as soon as their front gates were opened without prior permission.

[progressoid]

29. Which is exactly the scenario they are hoping for.

Fox news etc will run 24/7 how federal agents were murdered by illegals.

Facts be damned.

[Ilsa]

37. Unless they are murdered by legals.

Sometimes they get the addresses wrong, transpose numbers or turn right when they should have gone left.

[progressoid]

40. Then they become martyrs for the cause.

I mean, look what happened to Charlie Kirk when he was shot by one of his own. Or how they've turned Ashli Babbitt into a saint. And then her family was given 5 million dollars.

We're living in a bizarre timeline.

[hunter]

39. Trump would love to parade around with the dead bodies of a few ICE agents.

Flags at half mast, a national day of mourning, soldiers goose stepping behind coffins carried in elaborate hearses, 21 gun salutes, 24/7 television coverage... the works.

[malthaussen]

17. This is the problem...

... the law and the training manual say one thing, but when the recruits are actually brought into the fold, they're taken aside and told how things are really done. And many senior agents joined before a lot of the legal restraints were put into place, and thus never were taught the rules in the first place.

The real and only rule is "We do whatever we can get away with," and the only way to stop it is to not let them get away with it.

-- Mal

[ChicagoTeamster]

19. If the public doesn't know, what's to stop a homeowner from justifiably shooting them?

[Susan Calvin]

42. Even if the public does know.

Just because it's written in their policy doesn't make it legal.

[ChicagoTeamster]

52. What policy? If you're home is being violently broken into by people who won't announce their office

Because they don’t have a warrant and you defend yourself how were you to know they were law enforcement ? It’s happened before where law enforcement botched a raid and didn’t announce at first and the homeowner thought they were being invaded and fired on the police.

[Susan Calvin]

53. I'm not quite sure why you're yelling at me.

My only statement was that no matter what they say it's not legal.

[ChicagoTeamster]

55. I'm not yelling at you, I'm just pointing out that this happens and these ICE agents will get themselves shot

There's places in this country where you can't even look in somebody's window without the risk of getting shot in the face.

[Susan Calvin]

63. Sigh.....

Okay, whatever, sorry I threw in a comment.

[SergeStorms]

21. Someone else will get killed....

this time for defending their home against armed intruders. Then ICE mows down everyone inside.

This is what Trump wants. Then the insurrection act, then troops shooting citizens.......then it's Nazi Germany all over again. We're a hair's breadth from being there right now.

[surfered]

22. Todd Lyons wrote the memo. Impeach him!

[Botany]

23. Don't ICE officers get paid more when they pick people up?

There should be a court filing about this illegal policy 1st thing in the AM.

Fascism is here.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

24. A leaked memo shows ICE agents have been authorized by the Trump administration to illegally force entry into homes

There is no way that this is permitted under the 4th Amendment

Link to tweet

[allegorical oracle]

28. True irony -- the memo's title is "Protecting the American People Against Invasion".

[Quanta]

26. I think I've heard them refer to this in videos online.

Seems like they think it's their absolute license to be total dicks to the rest of us for some stupid reason. This entire sham has to got to stop soon. The world can't take much more of this bullshit.

[bucolic_frolic]

27. The Nixon White House would be proud of a good break-in

Richard Nixon's White House "Plumbers" unit ordered a break-in into the Los Angeles office of Dr. Lewis Fielding, the psychiatrist for Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the classified Pentagon Papers; the goal was to find damaging information to discredit Ellsberg and stop further leaks, an operation led by E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, and which foreshadowed the Watergate scandal.

- Gemini

Fourth Amendment be damned!

[Kid Berwyn]

34. Cain't get a civil war for nothin'.

It ain't against the law when the time comes.

[James48]

35. Smoking Gun

Kudos to the whistleblower.

[SalamanderSleeps]

36. Here is the actual document they use

https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Document/2017/I-205_SAMPLE.PDF

[LetMyPeopleVote]

38. ICE says its officers are allowed to enter homes without a judicial warrant, 2025 memo shows

The policy was revealed in a May 12 memo shared with a U.S. senator by whistleblowers. It changed a longstanding policy by ICE.

ICE says its officers are allowed to enter homes without a judicial warrant, 2025 memo shows

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

— Mike Walker (@newnarrative.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T00:45:56.761Z

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-changed-policy-allow-officers-agents-enter-homes-judicial-warrant-rcna255305

A May 2025 internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement document shows that the agency told officers and agents they can forcibly enter homes of people without a warrant signed by a judge.

The memo, dated May 12 and which reads that it is from ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, was shared with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., by two whistleblowers.

It says that ICE agents are allowed to forcibly enter a person’s home on administrative warrants, which are different from warrants in which a judge is presented with the request and approves it.

Lyons notes in the document that detaining people “in their residences” based solely on administrative warrants is a change from past policy.

“Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose,” the memo reads.

The memo says that agents may “arrest and detain aliens” in their place of residence who are subject to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge, the Board of Immigration Appeals, or a U.S. district or magistrate judge.....

Blumenthal in a statement said that the newly revealed ICE policy should terrify Americans.

“It is a legally and morally abhorrent policy that exemplifies the kinds of dangerous, disgraceful abuses America is seeing in real time,” Blumenthal said. “In our democracy, with vanishingly rare exceptions, the government is barred from breaking into your home without a judge giving a green light.”

[Takket]

45. I'm not a lawyer but...

I don’t think you can cancel the 4th amendment by writing a memo that you don’t allow people to read.

[UTUSN]

46. K&R

[orangecrush]

54. Kick

[themaguffin]

56. the don't tread on me crowd is silent... oh wait, that's because it's don't tread on "me."

[70sEraVet]

58. Makes me wonder what other secret memos are floating around.....

that do away with our Constitutional Rights?
"When you're a star (and the Supreme Court has granted you immunity from prosecution), you can do anything!"

[FakeNoose]

61. No shit - Stephen Miller has been staying up nights

Writing memos (and tweets) are his thing, because he doesn't like saying things in front of TV cameras.

[PatrickforB]

60. And yet Jeffries does not plan to whip his Dem minority in the House to vote against ICE funding. You know,

whatever political/procedural justification he may feel for this, the optics of it will be BAD for the base.

[DallasNE]

62. So This Was The Authority

ICE used to break into the home of the Asian-American and drag him out into the Minneapolis cold, half-naked. I would also think that all such uses of this memo would invalidate all actions taken against those rounded up. One problem we are seeing is that the court system acts too slowly in matters like this and needs to use Special Masters to keep things moving along.

Earlier, I thought they were using the blanket warrants with "alien" as the name on the warrant. These kind of moves shows a disdain by Trump forces for the rule of law. It is past time to apply some consequences for these violations.