A newly disclosed whistleblower complaint indicates that Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorized its officers to enter homes without judicial warrants in the cases of people with deportation orders, a sweeping reversal of longstanding rules.

Historically, ICE has told its officers that they could not rely on administrative immigration warrants — signed by officials at the agency, not judges — to enter people’s homes, due to constitutional protections against warrantless searches.

But a May 2025 memo disclosed Wednesday by two U.S. government whistleblowers gave ICE officers permission to use those administrative immigration warrants to enter residences by force to arrest unauthorized immigrants who had been ordered deported by an immigration judge or court.

The directive, signed by Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, says, “Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose.”

Lyons’ memo empowered ICE officers to use the “necessary and reasonable amount of force to enter the alien’s residence” if the targets of operations do not allow them inside. 

Before any forced entry, ICE officers should knock on the residence’s door and identify themselves. The memo also directed officers to conduct such operations targeting those with deportation orders after 6 a.m. and before 10 p.m.

Asked about the previously undisclosed directive, which was reported by The Associated Press earlier Wednesday, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said those affected by the memo had been given “full due process and a final order of removal from an immigration judge.”

“The officers issuing these administrative warrants also have found probable cause,” McLaughlin argued in her statement. “For decades, the Supreme Court and Congress have recognized the propriety of administrative warrants in cases of immigration enforcement.”

The directive is likely to trigger legal challenges, as the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution has been long interpreted to largely prohibit searches and seizures without judicial warrants, including in the immigration context.

According to the whistleblower complaint, which was shared with Congress, Lyons’ memo has not been shared widely within the agency but has been used to train ICE officers. 

“The whistleblowers assert that this is a flagrant violation of the Fourth Amendment,” said Whistleblower Aid, the nonprofit representing the whistleblowers. “This disclosure is particularly timely and relevant given recent news reports of ICE officers breaking into homes, including those of U.S. citizens, without a judicial warrant and forcibly removing the residents.”