{"id":62860,"date":"2026-01-21T20:56:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T01:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=62860"},"modified":"2026-01-22T13:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T18:21:10","slug":"ap-immigration-officers-assert-sweeping-power-to-enter-homes-without-a-judges-warrant-memo-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=62860","title":{"rendered":"AP: Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge\u2019s warrant, memo says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

AP: Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge\u2019s warrant, memo says<\/a> by Rebecca Santana:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people\u2019s homes without a judge\u2019s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo<\/a> obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the memo is “eyes only” and the officers aren’t allowed to have it, just read it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The gravamen of the disclosure is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

a. By memorandum dated May 12, 2025 (\u201cthe May 12 Memo\u201d), Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons authorizes ICE agents to forcibly enteri nto certain people\u2019s homes without a judicial warrant, consent, or an emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b. Specifically, in the May 12 Memo, the Acting ICE Director authorized ICE Agents to rely on Form I-205 (which is not a judicial warrant) to enter the residence of an alien subject to a final order of deportation, without consent, including by \u201ca necessary and reasonable amount of force.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

c. While addressed to \u201cAll ICE Personnel,\u201d in practice the May 12 Memo has not been formally distributed to all personnel. Instead, the May 12 Memo has been provided to select DHS officials who are then directed to verbally brief the new policy for action. Those supervisors then show the Memo to some employees, like our clients, and direct them to read the Memo and return it to the supervisor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

d. A Form I-205, which DHS has called a \u201cWarrant of Removal\/Deportation\u201d is drafted and signed by an ICE official. Based upon the final administrative order of deportation typically issued by an immigration judge, the purpose of the Form I-205 is to authorize ICE Agents to detain and remove these individuals. These arrests have always been limited to public places because the Form I-205 has not been considered a warrant issued by a \u201cneutral and detached magistrate.\u201d Only a warrant issued by a judicial officer would authorize ICE Agents to enter or search nonpublic areas such as an alien\u2019s residence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

e. It appears that the Acting ICE Director has authorized the very conduct that DHS in 2025 legal training materials (citing Supreme Court precedent) has called \u201cthe chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed\u201d — \u201cphysical entry of the home\u201d without consent or a proper warrant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

f. Based upon information and belief, newly hired ICE Agents \u2013 many of whom do not have a law enforcement background \u2013 are now being directed to rely solely on Form I-205 to enter a home without consent to conduct arrests. In fact, our client at DHS understands that instructors at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center are directed to verbally train all new ICE Agents to follow this policy while disregarding written course material instructing the opposite. Potentially, scores of ICE Agents will be emboldened to unlawfully enter private residences, which include the private residences of U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AP: Immigration officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge\u2019s warrant, memo says by Rebecca Santana: Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people\u2019s homes without a judge\u2019s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-immigration-arrests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62860"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62868,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62860\/revisions\/62868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}