The Associated Press has obtained an internal memorandum from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that authorizes agents to forcibly enter private residences and arrest individuals using only administrative warrants, bypassing the requirement for a warrant signed by a federal judge. The memo, signed by acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and dated May 12, 2025, represents a fundamental shift in the agency’s interpretation of the Fourth Amendment, which historically has required law enforcement to obtain a judicial warrant before entering a home without consent.
The memo states that the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor has determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and federal immigration regulations do not prohibit reliance on administrative orders for arresting individuals subject to final deportation orders at their residences, according to the Spanish-language reporting on the memo by The Associated Press. The agency’s statement of legal reasoning was not detailed in the reporting.
For years, immigrant advocacy groups, legal aid organizations, and local governments have advised immigrants not to open their doors to immigration agents unless the agents present a warrant signed by a judge. That advice was based on Supreme Court decisions that generally bar police from entering a home without judicial authorization. The new directive directly undermines that long-standing counsel.
MSI previously reported that the memo’s authorization of forced entry using only administrative warrants marked a dramatic departure from the policy that had guided immigration enforcement for years. The ACLU of Colorado and other groups have since challenged similar ICE tactics in court.
The memo itself has not been widely circulated within ICE, according to a whistleblower complaint filed by Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit legal organization that assists federal workers in exposing wrongdoing. The complaint, obtained by AP alongside the memo, says the directive is being used to train newly hired ICE agents deployed under the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. New agents are told to follow the memo’s guidance even though it contradicts the agency’s written training materials, according to the complaint.
AP verified the accounts in the whistleblower complaint. The memo and complaint were shared by a congressional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the documents are sensitive.
The new policy has already been put into practice. On Jan. 11, AP reporters witnessed ICE agents dressed in heavy tactical gear with rifles at the ready break down the front door of Garrison Gibson’s home in Minneapolis. Gibson, a Liberian man with a final deportation order issued in 2023, was arrested. Documents reviewed by AP showed agents carried only an administrative warrant; no judge had authorized the search of the residence.
Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, said in a statement to AP that individuals served with an administrative warrant have already been through the full legal process and received a final removal order from an immigration judge. She added that federal courts and Congress have recognized the legal standing of administrative warrants in immigration enforcement. McLaughlin did not answer questions about whether ICE agents have entered homes using only an administrative warrant since the memo was issued, or how frequently such entries have occurred.
Lindsay Nash, a law professor at Cardozo School of Law in New York, said the memo openly contradicts what the Fourth Amendment protects and what ICE itself has historically stated its authority to be. She warned of a significant potential for overreach and error, with consequences she described as serious.
The memo asserts that ICE agents may use only the force that is necessary and reasonable to enter a residence after first knocking, identifying themselves, stating their purpose, and giving occupants sufficient time to respond voluntarily. Entries are permitted only between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
But the memo has been handled with unusual secrecy. According to Whistleblower Aid, it has been shown only to select DHS officials, who then shared it with some employees under instruction to read and return it. One whistleblower was permitted to view it only in the presence of a supervisor and was not allowed to take notes. Another whistleblower was able to access the document and legally disclose it to Congress.
ICE has rapidly hired thousands of new deportation officers to carry out the administration’s enforcement agenda. During an AP visit to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia, in August, ICE officials stated that new agents were being trained to comply with the Fourth Amendment. But the whistleblower complaint alleges that in practice, new agents are told they can rely solely on administrative warrants to enter homes, contradicting the written training materials.
The policy shift is almost certain to face legal challenges from advocacy groups and from state and local governments that have opposed the administration’s enforcement tactics. Legal challenges to the use of administrative warrants for entry have already begun in multiple jurisdictions as immigration arrests continue to rise nationwide.