Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says
Source: Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter peoples homes without a judges 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.
The shift comes as the Trump administration dramatically expands immigration arrests nationwide, deploying thousands of officers under a mass deportation campaign that is already reshaping enforcement tactics in cities such as Minneapolis.
For years, immigrant advocates, legal aid groups and local governments have urged people not to open their doors to immigration agents unless they are shown a warrant signed by a judge. That guidance is rooted in Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial approval. The ICE directive directly undercuts that advice at a time when arrests are accelerating under the administrations immigration crackdown.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/ice-arrests-warrants-minneapolis-trump-00d0ab0338e82341fd91b160758aeb2d?link_source=ta_bluesky_link&taid=697145f23236d20001a01354&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+New+Content+(Feed)&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky
Insanely Unconstitutional. I'm with team Castle Doctrine on this.
Lovie777
(22,007 posts)ForgoTheConsequence
(5,174 posts)dalton99a
(92,479 posts)mdbl
(8,161 posts)Maybe then they'll realize how stupid they are.
LetMyPeopleVote
(175,777 posts)TommyT139
(2,194 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(175,777 posts)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
— Mike Walker (@newnarrative.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T00:45:56.761Z
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-changed-policy-allow-officers-agents-enter-homes-judicial-warrant-rcna255305
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 persons 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.
Bayard
(28,808 posts)They can expect to be shot if they ram someone's door down in the middle of the night, no warrant, and wearing masks. Its a home invasion. Not a matter of if, but when, and that will be their excuse for opening fire on everyone, and declaring martial law
ICE martyrs, blared far and wide.
moonshinegnomie
(3,912 posts)burst into a house illegally
arrest and quickly deport
if its later challanged the subject is already out of the country.
BUT....
several years ago cops tried bursting in on someone in texas. they had a warrant buy it was a no knock warrant. they camy in before dawn.
the subject heard them break in,and reched beside his bed for his gun killed one of the cops.
he was acquitted..
or else the family of the imigrant would have a good case to sue ICE and any agent for depravation of rights.
TommyT139
(2,194 posts)Courtesy MuellerSheWrote
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26499371-dhs-ice-memo-1-21-26/
24 pages, 8+ mb.

