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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
What immigration lawyers want you to know about ICE and criminal
warrants
By Zoe Sottile, CNN
Updated:
5:00 AM EDT, Sun September 14, 2025
Source: CNN
As the Trump administration has continued its monthslong immigration
enforcement blitz, its tactics – including large-scale workplace
raids and the use of – have sparked condemnation from advocates and
civil rights groups.
Amid the ongoing campaign to deport of immigrants, “Know Your
Rights” trainings and programs have proliferated, with small fliers
popping up on the doors of businesses around the country.
“ICE and Homeland Security cannot enter without a warrant signed by a
judge,” read some of the fliers, reflecting a growing movement to as
immigration authorities have taken during President Donald Trump’s
second term.
The warrant guidance largely stems from the , which protects people –
citizens and noncitizens alike – from “unreasonable searches and
seizures.”
The amendment “ensures everyone’s privacy is protected, regardless
of immigration status,” said Ana Valenzuela, senior attorney at
Minsky McCormick & Hallagan, P.C., a Chicago-based immigration law
firm.
“Law enforcement does not have the right to just enter” a home or a
private business unless they have a warrant signed by a judge,
Valenzuela told CNN.
CNN talked with immigration lawyers about the different kinds of
warrants – and what an ICE agent needs to enter a person’s home or
business.
What is an administrative warrant?
The administrative warrants ICE may serve while making civil
immigration arrests are distinct from the criminal warrants local and
federal police typically use, immigration lawyers told CNN.
The administrative warrant typically used by ICE, a is a civil document
typically issued by the Department of Homeland Security. It usually
lists the person the agency is trying to find, according to Valenzuela,
and may include the person’s picture. This type of warrant can be
used to arrest a person in public, she said.
Administrative warrants are signed by authorized ICE officers – not
judges, according to , a professor at the University of Maryland
Francis King Carey School of Law who specializes in immigration law.
They don’t require the same evidence as a judicial warrant, Sweeney
said.
And an administrative warrant doesn’t allow an ICE officer to enter a
person’s home or a private business without consent, , an
Atlanta-based immigration lawyer, said.
“If ICE knocks on the door and says, ‘We want to come in,’ you
should ask for a judicial warrant,” Kuck explained.
They’re also not enforceable, according to Kuck. That means, for
instance, that if an immigration officer uses an administrative warrant
to request work documents from an employer, the company doesn’t have
to comply, he said.
Valenzuela added during trainings, she emphasizes that people should
not open the door to their home or private business to immigration
authorities.
“If they even crack the door open to obtain and review the warrant,
that cracking of the door is enough to give them consent to enter,”
she said.
What is a criminal warrant?
A criminal or judicial warrant, which can allow law enforcement to
search a specific location without consent, requires “probable cause
that you have committed a crime,” , a former ICE attorney and current
co-chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s national
ICE committee, told CNN. A law enforcement officer must provide sworn
testimony to a judge, who then signs the warrant.
And the warrant has to be “very specific in terms of the exact
location that they intend to search,” according to Valenzuela –
down to the precise apartment number. A criminal search warrant is also
only valid for a specific time period.
Being an undocumented immigrant is a civil offense, not a crime. But
immigration authorities may still obtain criminal warrants in some
cases, like during large-scale workplace raids, including the recent
operation at , according to Kuck.
“For example, intentionally hiring individuals to work that don’t
have work authorization, that can be a crime,” Kuck said – allowing
authorities to obtain a criminal warrant to search a property.
For the Hyundai raid, authorities had obtained a search warrant that
named four specific individuals. But in total, 475 people, mostly
Korean nationals, were arrested, suspected of living and working in the
US illegally. The mass arrest marks the largest sweep yet in the
crackdown at US worksites.
Valenzuela described this as “collateral detention” – when
immigration authorities target specific people, but end up arresting
others as well.
Does ICE need a warrant to arrest you?
But, according to immigration lawyers, ICE can make warrantless
arrests. There are two main exceptions through the , according to
Gihon: If officers have personally witnessed someone violating
immigration law, or if there’s reason to believe the person is
removable and they may flee before a warrant can be obtained.
“That’s the exception that they almost always use when doing a
warrantless arrest – by virtue of being in the country in violation
of your status, you’re a flight risk,” he said.
And in practice, officers have needed little pretext to make arrests.
Just matching with a photo in an ICE database can lead to an arrest,
according to Gihon.
The approach has caused controversy and incurred accusations of racial
profiling. In Southern California, a judge said DHS was arresting
people without probable cause and to stop detaining people based solely
on race, spoken language or occupation. But the Supreme Court ruled
Tuesday that could continue.
ICE says that the agency doesn’t need judicial warrants to make
arrests. “Like all other law enforcement officers, ICE officers and
agents can initiate consensual encounters and speak with people,
briefly detain aliens when they have reasonable suspicion that the
aliens are illegally present in the United States, and arrest people
they believe are illegal aliens,” reads the website.
Kuck urged people to stay calm and quiet if approached by immigration
officers. A person disclosing their immigration status can later be
used against them during deportation proceedings, he said.
But even if someone refuses to speak to immigration officers, they can
still be arrested, he said.
‘Know Your Rights’
Amidst the ongoing deportation campaign, “Know Your Rights”
trainings and programs have spread.
In Chicago, where is imminent, public school teachers and union members
distributed “Defend Your Rights” flyers to parents and students
Friday afternoon outside a west side elementary school.
The union said the goal of the flyering is to inform school families in
Latino and Black neighborhoods of their legal rights as the city
prepares for the possible deployment of National Guard troops and ICE
agents.
“We have so many Black and brown students here, we’ve gotten an
influx within the last two years of migrant students, so we want to
protect our students,” first grade teacher Latina King told CNN.
Sweeney emphasized when speaking to law enforcement, people always have
the right to walk away, unless they’re being detained.
“The advice is always that if you’re approached by an officer who
asks you a question, you should respond with a question of your own:
‘Officer, am I being detained?’” she said.
“If the officer refuses to answer, you should repeat the question,
because they have an obligation to answer that question and to let you
know whether you’re being detained,” she went on.
Gihon, meanwhile, said as the administration pushes to overturn
long-standing norms in immigration enforcement, making brazen public
arrests and going after immigrants , it’s harder than ever for
immigration lawyers to provide universal advice.
“It’s tough because you could give absolutely perfect advice and it
could be totally wrong based upon a change in policy or how the courts
are enforcing things, unfortunately,” he said.
“It’s hard to try to predict the unpredictable.”
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