US immigration agents can enter homes without a warrant: ICE memo explained

US immigration raids: An internal ICE document suggests officers may force entry into homes, unsettling years of legal advice as US immigration arrests rise

Immigrants in the United States have long relied on a simple tactic to avoid arrest: Stay indoors, do not answer the door, and wait for immigration officers to move on. That advice, repeated for years by lawyers and advocacy groups, may no longer hold.

 

An internal memo from Immigration and Customs Enforcement obtained by The Associated Press says immigration officers can forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant. The document points to a sharp change in enforcement practice, one that cuts against decades of legal guidance given to immigrant communities.

 

The development comes as immigration arrests rise nationwide under a mass deportation drive ordered by US President Donald Trump, changing how enforcement plays out in cities such as Minneapolis.

 

How immigration arrests usually work

 

Most immigration arrests have traditionally relied on administrative warrants. These are documents issued by immigration authorities that allow an arrest but do not permit officers to enter private homes without consent.

 

Only warrants signed by an independent judge have been treated as sufficient to enter a residence without permission. This distinction has been central to court rulings and to the advice given by immigration lawyers for years.

 

 

Why not opening the door mattered

 

Since ICE was created in 2003, advocacy groups and immigrant-friendly state and local governments have repeatedly told people not to open their doors unless officers can show a judicial warrant.

 

Know-your-rights trainings became common, with community meetings, flyers, and videos explaining how immigrants could protect themselves during encounters with immigration officers.

 

The standard advice from immigration attorneys has been consistent. If ICE agents come to the door, people are generally told to:

 

— Not open the door unless officers show a warrant signed by a judge

— Ask to see the warrant, checking that it has the correct name and address

— Ask officers to show identification through a window or peephole

— Remain calm and say, “I do not consent to your entry” and “I want to speak to a lawyer”

— Document the encounter by recording video, photographing documents, and noting badge numbers

 

That guidance rests on the idea that administrative warrants do not give officers the right to enter a home without consent.

 

 

‘Every American should now be terrified’

 

Democratic US Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut has called for congressional hearings into the ICE memo and is seeking answers from Kristi Noem, who leads the Department of Homeland Security.

 

“Every American should be terrified by this secret ICE policy authorising its agents to kick down your door and storm into your home,” Blumenthal said in a press release.

 

“This policy is directly contrary to longstanding legal interpretation of the Fourth Amendment and agency practice, which requires ICE agents to obtain a judicial warrant duly signed and executed by a judge in order to enter someone’s home,” he said.

 

Blumenthal added that the whistleblower disclosure and public reporting point to at least two cases in the past year in which Department of Homeland Security officials wrongly entered the homes of American families.

   

What the courts have said

 

The question of home entry has long been central to constitutional law. In a 1980 ruling, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the “physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed”.

 

That principle has shaped how immigration enforcement operates at the doorstep. The ICE memo suggests a different reading, one that could alter how officers act and how immigrants respond when there is a knock at the door.