Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant, memo says

"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 administration's immigration crackdown."

"The memo itself has not been widely shared within the agency, according to a whistleblower complaint, but its contents have been used to train new ICE officers who are being deployed into cities and towns to implement the president's immigration crackdown. New ICE hires and those still in training are being told to follow the memo's guidance instead of written training materials that actually contradict the memo, according to the whistleblower disclosure."

An internal ICE memo authorizes officers to use force to enter residences based solely on administrative warrants to arrest people with final orders of removal. The directive reverses longstanding guidance that emphasized judicial warrants and raises Fourth Amendment concerns about unreasonable searches and seizures. Immigrant advocates, legal aid groups and local governments have urged residents not to open doors without a judge-signed warrant, citing Supreme Court rulings that generally forbid warrantless home entry. The memo has been used in training for new ICE officers despite conflicting written materials, and enforcement is expanding under a large deportation campaign.

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