Immigration officers assert power to enter homes without judge's warrant

[struggle4progress]

By REBECCA SANTANA
Updated 4:35 PM EST, January 21, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches.

The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities ...

https://apnews.com/article/ice-arrests-warrants-minneapolis-trump-00d0ab0338e82341fd91b160758aeb2d

Related DU thread:secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. 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

[Timewas]

2. Seriously?

You really think they give a shit about the constitution?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. 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.”