Tip Sheets
Using ICE warrants to enter homes, ‘an attempt to end-run around the Fourth Amendment’
January 22, 2026
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Whistleblowers have shared an internal ICE memo showing that immigration agents have been sanctioned to enter homes and make arrests using administrative warrants instead of using warrants signed by a judge, an attempt to circumvent the Fourth Amendment says a Cornell Law School expert.
Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer, immigration law scholar and an associate professor at Cornell Law School, says ICE warrants—unlike judicial warrants—omit important parameters around the enforcement action.
Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law
“The internal ICE memo allowing ICE agents to enter homes without a judicial warrant contravenes the Fourth Amendment, which has been understood to require a warrant signed by a judge.
“ICE warrants are administrative documents that do not have judicial oversight—essentially, they are an internal document provided to agents by another ICE officer to direct them to arrest certain individuals. They don’t contain the hallmarks of a judicial warrant, which specifically lists the time, place, and manner for a search or seizure, providing important parameters around the enforcement action. Using ICE warrants to enter homes is an attempt to end-run around the Fourth Amendment.”
