The directive overturns a bedrock principle that has guided immigrant communities for decades. Since shortly after ICE was created in 2003, advocacy groups have taught immigrants that they can refuse entry to ICE officers unless presented with a judge-signed warrant. Legal experts warn the new policy could escalate violence and put both immigrants and officers at greater risk.

An internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by the Associated Press has authorized immigration officers to forcibly enter people’s homes without warrants signed by judges, marking a dramatic shift from the constitutional safeguards that have governed home searches for decades.

The change comes as immigration arrests spike under President Trump’s mass deportation campaign, which is already reshaping enforcement tactics in cities such as Minneapolis. For decades, immigrant communities have relied on a fundamental legal principle: they could refuse entry to ICE unless officers presented a warrant signed by an independent judge.

“There are rules and I know them,” said Fernando Perez, a day laborer in San Diego who has lived in the United States for 30 years. “But if they are going to start coming into my home, where I am paying the rent — they are not paying the rent — that’s the last straw.”

Constitutional protections under threat

Traditionally, only warrants signed by independent judges have carried the authority to permit officers to enter private spaces without consent. Most immigration arrests have been carried out under administrative warrants — documents issued by immigration authorities that authorize arrest but do not permit entry into homes.

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in 1980 that the “physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed.”

The Associated Press witnessed the new approach on January 11 in Minneapolis. Wearing heavy tactical gear with their rifles drawn, ICE officers rammed through the front door of a Liberian man’s home with only an administrative warrant.

This practice stands in sharp contrast to what immigrant advocates have taught for two decades. Since shortly after ICE was created in 2003, advocacy groups and immigrant-friendly state and local governments have diligently spread the word that people should not open their doors for immigration officers unless they show a warrant signed by a judge.

In the predominantly Latino city of Santa Ana, where ICE agents were seen roaming the streets in recent days, several residents said they were well aware of that right. Schools have sent out information to parents about what to do if ICE comes to the door. One man said he learned about the principle from TikTok.

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has been publicly critical of such efforts. “They call it ‘know-your-rights,’” he said on CNN. “I call it ‘how to escape arrest.’”

What the memo permits

According to the internal directive, immigration officers can forcibly enter homes and arrest immigrants if they have obtained a final order of removal, using solely an administrative warrant.

The memo requires officers to knock on the door, identify themselves and explain their purpose. Entry can only occur between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., and residents must be given a “reasonable chance to act lawfully.” If residents do not comply, the memo says, officers can use force to enter.

Democratic U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut is demanding congressional hearings on the memo and calling on Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for an explanation.

“Every American should be terrified by this secret ICE policy authorizing its agents to kick down your door and storm into your home,” Blumenthal said in a statement.

Ahilan Arulanantham, co-faculty director of the UCLA Law School’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy, called the memo “quite disturbing.”

“Know-your-rights trainings have included that information for decades and even people who are only minimally aware of their rights learn that because it’s sort of the first and foundational elements of Fourth Amendment law,” Arulanantham said. “They know to ask officers to slide the warrant under the door so they can see if it was signed by a judge or is an administrative warrant.”

Beyond the legal and political questions, experts warn of immediate safety risks. Law enforcement and legal experts say that if immigration officers begin barging into homes, everyone could be put at greater risk.

With stand-your-ground laws in effect in many states, people have the legal right to shoot intruders. This could lead to officers being shot, Arulanantham said, or agents opening fire on someone coming at them with a baseball bat or other item grabbed in the heat of a moment.

ICE records often contain wrong addresses, which could lead to confrontations and agents entering the homes of U.S. citizens, legal experts said.

“This would just be another step down that path,” Arulanantham said, referring to increasingly aggressive enforcement tactics since September when the Supreme Court lifted a lower court order barring federal agents in the Los Angeles area from indiscriminately stopping people based on race, language, job or location. “Obviously it will be more significant because it suggests you’re not safe even in your own house.”