Leaked ICE memo says agents can enter houses without judge’s warrant, in likely violation of U.S. Constitution

Author: Devin Windelspecht, MSc

January 20, 2026

HRRC expresses intense alarm as to the continued deterioration of American civil rights under the Trump administration. We stress that weakening the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by allowing immigration officials to forcibly enter a residence without a warrant signed by a judge represents a severe blow to the rights of all Americans, citizens and noncitizens alike, and sets a dangerous precedent that can lead to unchecked abuse of power by law enforcement.

Federal agents stand outside a convenience store on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. [Image credit: AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis]

A leaked memo obtained by the Associated Press (AP) asserts the power of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to enter homes without a warrant signed by a judge, in a likely violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures of private property by the government. 

According to the AP, the memo instructs immigration officials to forcibly enter homes so long as they hold an administrative warrant to arrest the individual living there. Administrative warrants are warrants issued by authorities – such as immigration authorities that work for ICE or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – that give officers the authority to arrest an individual. Judicial warrants, on the other hand, must be signed by an independent judge to waive the individual’s Fourth Amendment rights under “probable cause” of having committed a crime. 

According to legal scholars, administrative warrants have historically lacked the authority to permit officials to enter a home without the resident’s permission. Only an independent judge, who sits in a position of impartiality under the law, has the authority to permit such action.

The memo would circumvent the need for ICE and CBP to present evidence to a judge that an individual has committed a crime. Trump administration officials have separately said that undocumented immigrants do not have the same rights as citizens, and therefore do not have the same protections under the Fourth Amendment. Legal scholars, however, say that while administrative warrants legally permit ICE and CBP to arrest undocumented immigrants, entering a private residence without a judicial warrant remains a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment, no matter a person’s immigration or citizenship status.

While the memo was leaked in January 2026, it was first issued in May 2025, and immigration officials have reportedly used administrative warrants to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants since at least summer 2025. 

Under the Trump administration, ICE and CBP have abducted thousands of undocumented immigrants, as well as U.S. citizens, in operations targeting predominantly Democratic cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis. In Minneapolis, citizens have responded with widespread civil disobedience and documentation of immigration raids, which have in turn been met with violence, arbitrary detention, and even killings by ICE. 

In Minneapolis, ICE officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens – Renee Good and Alex Pretti – in January, falsely claiming in each case that the individuals presented a threat to ICE officers. 

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Glossary 

• Abduct – take forcibly to another location without a person’s consent. 

• Arbitrary detention – detaining a person without proper cause, and consider a violation of a person’s human rights.

• Authority – a person given the permission to carry out and enforce laws. 

• Circumvent – get around. 

• Civil disobedience – nonviolent resistance in which a person refuses to comply with a law or order from an authority that is deemed unjust. 

• Civil rights – legal rights given to the citizens of a democratic county, including equality under the law, protection against discrimination, protections and government abuse, and more. 

• Deterioration – worsen. 

• Fourth Amendment – one of 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution and part of the “Bill of Rights,” the first 10 amendments that outline the rights every American enjoys. 

• Impartiality – not belonging to any given side or faction. 

• Leaked – information given to a third party, such as the press, when it was meant to remain secret.

• Memo – a message outlining new rules or actions to be followed. 

• Precedent – an action that permits or sets into motion future actions. 

• Predominantly – mostly. 

• Probable cause – having sufficient evidence that a person may have committed a crime, beyond mere suspicion by law enforcement. 

• Raid – an operation by law enforcement. 

• Scholar – an expert whose career is dedicated to studying a given subject.

• Significant – enough; meeting a required threshold. 

• Undocumented immigrant – an immigrant to the United States that did not enter the country under official legal immigration processes, and/or overstayed the terms of their work, education, or other temporary visa to the country. 

• Waive – take away a right or protection.

• Warrant – a document that provides authorization to law enforcement to carry out a given action.