A memo from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency was leaked Wednesday (Jan. 22), by a whistle-blower group, revealing that guidance was written to allow ICE agents to enter homes to search and arrest people without a judicial warrant. The revelation of agents ignoring the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution has added more controversy to an agency already under duress for its tactics.
The group, Whistleblower Aid, released a copy of the memo, which was dated May 12, 2025, and drafted by Tood Lyons, the acting director of ICE. “D.H.S.’s (Department of Homeland Security) new policy to permit arrests in an alien’s residence, without a judicial warrant or consent, is a complete break from the law and undercuts the Fourth Amendment and the rights it protects,” the group said in a statement. The statement went on to say that the whistleblowers within the agency confirmed that agents were entering homes without judicial warrants in Texas, due to the presence of more conservative judges in that state.
ICE agents have traditionally relied on residents voluntarily allowing them into their homes, after providing a judicial warrant, which is an order by the court on the basis that a probable crime had been committed. An administrative warrant, also known as a Form I-205, is a document issued by ICE and DHS that authorizes an arrest for civil immigration violations. The difference between the two is that the judicial warrant is signed off by a judge while ICE officers usually sign administrative warrants.
DHS Spokeswoman Trisha McLaughlin defended the memo in a statement: “Every illegal alien who DHS serves administrative warrants/I-205s have had full due process and a final order of removal from an immigration judge. The officers issuing these administrative warrants also have found probable cause. For decades, the Supreme Court and Congress have recognized the propriety of administrative warrants in cases of immigration enforcement.”
Democratic lawmakers and other critics of the Trump administration firmly decried the revelation, noting that the ICE memo goes against already established DHS guidelines. “Every American should be terrified by this secret ICE policy authorizing its agents to kick down your door and storm into your home,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in a statement. “It is a legally and morally abhorrent policy that exemplifies the kinds of dangerous, disgraceful abuses America is seeing in real time.”
