The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has authorized agents to force entry into homes and arrest immigrants using only administrative warrants, bypassing the judicial oversight required by the Fourth Amendment, according to an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press.

The May 12, 2025 memorandum, signed by interim ICE Director Todd Lyons, represents a dramatic departure from longstanding policy that has guided immigration enforcement for years. Immigrant advocacy groups, legal aid organizations, and local governments have for years advised immigrants not to open doors to immigration agents without a court-ordered warrant signed by a judge.

The policy shift comes as the Trump administration has dramatically escalated immigration enforcement, deploying thousands of additional agents in what it describes as a campaign for mass deportation.

The memo threatens to undermine Fourth Amendment protections for all people in the United States and has already begun shaping how newly hired ICE agents conduct raids in cities and towns across the country.

The memo’s authorization and constitutional challenge

According to the AP’s review of the document, the memo directs ICE agents that they may use force to enter a home if the target has a final deportation order, relying solely on an administrative warrant known as an I-205 form. Previously, agents were limited to using such warrants only to arrest someone, not to force entry into a residence.

The document specifies that agents must knock on the door, announce themselves and state their purpose. They have a limited timeframe—between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.—to carry out the entry. The memo states that people inside must be given a “reasonable opportunity to act lawfully.”

But if entry is refused, the memo states that ICE agents must use only the force necessary and reasonable to enter the residence after proper notification.

Legal experts say the policy directly contradicts Fourth Amendment protections, which generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without a warrant signed by a judge. Lindsay Nash, a law professor at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law, said the memo “contradicts openly what the Fourth Amendment protects and what ICE itself has historically declared as its powers.”

For years, immigration advocates have instructed immigrants that they can legally refuse entry to immigration agents who present only an administrative warrant. That guidance is based on Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial authorization.

Implementation and real-world enforcement

The memo was not widely distributed within ICE, according to a whistleblower complaint obtained by the AP. Instead, it was shown to “select DHS officials” who then shared it selectively with some employees, with instructions to read it and return it.

Newly hired ICE agents being deployed across the country, however, are being trained to rely on the memo’s directives. At a federal law enforcement training center in Georgia, new agents are being instructed to follow the guidelines in the memo rather than written training materials that contradict it.

On January 11 in Minneapolis, AP journalists witnessed ICE agents use the tactic described in the memo. Agents in heavy tactical gear, with rifles at the ready, breached the front door of Garrison Gibson’s home. Gibson, a Liberian national, had a final deportation order in place since 2023. According to documents reviewed by the AP, the agents possessed only an administrative warrant at the time of the entry—not a judicial warrant.

Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that people notified with an administrative order have already received complete due process and a final deportation order. She said officials who issued those orders determined there was probable cause for arrest, and that the Supreme Court and Congress have recognized the legality of administrative orders in immigration cases.

McLaughlin did not respond to questions about how many times ICE agents have used this tactic since the memo was issued or whether the agency has undertaken a legal review of the constitutional implications.

Legal advocacy groups say the memo will face court challenges. Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit law firm assisting federal employees in disclosing irregularities, filed a complaint describing the memo as “a secret and apparently unconstitutional institutional policy directive.”

David Kligerman, senior vice president and special counsel of Whistleblower Aid, said his clients spent months finding “a safe and legal avenue to disclose [the memo] to lawmakers and the American people.”

The shift in policy comes as ICE has rapidly hired thousands of new deportation agents to implement the Trump administration’s deportation agenda. During a visit to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia in August, ICE officials emphasized that new agents are trained to comply with the Fourth Amendment—though according to whistleblower accounts, that written training contradicts what new agents are actually being told to do.