ICE Memo Authorizes Home Break-Ins Without Judicial Warrant, Sparks Outrage
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers and constitutional rights experts expressed outrage after reports that U.S. Immigration and customs Enforcement officials authorized deportation agents to enter immigrants’ homes—by force, if necessary—without a judicial arrest warrant.
The internal memo authorizes ICE agents to forcibly enter a residence to arrest someone with an administrative warrant and a final deportation order.
Administrative warrants are internal documents issued by immigration authorities,not signed by judges. Arrest warrants are court orders based on probable cause of a crime.
Critics say the memo, first obtained by the Associated Press, reverses longstanding guidance adhering to constitutional limits on government searches. Immigrants have been advised not to open their doors to agents without a warrant signed by a judge.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, demanded an inquiry into the policy, calling it something that “should appall every American.”
Blumenthal, in a letter Wednesday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, said the guidance disregards “lawful protections that have safeguarded the American public and our democracy for the last 250 years.”
trump governance officials,including Vice President JD Vance,on Thursday defended the guidance as appropriate and legal.
WhistleblowerAid.org, an advocacy group, submitted a complaint to the U.S. Senate regarding the memo’s guidance this week and released a copy of the May 12, 2025, memo. the memo appeared to be signed by Lyons, though his signature could not be independently verified.
The group’s complaint stems from facts provided by two government officials, who allege the policy violates the 4th Amendment’s guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure.
The whistleblowers alleged the memo wasn’t widely distributed, with some agents verbally briefed on its contents; others saw the memo but couldn’t keep a copy. New ICE hires are being trained on the guidance, they said.
Tricia mclaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, responded to the Associated Press report in a statement on X, saying, “In every case that DHS uses an Administrative warrant to enter a residence, an