Topline
Vice President JD Vance defended a leaked Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo that authorizes ICE agents to forcefully enter homes without a judicial warrant, as critics slam what they say are the memo’s perceived violations of search and seizure protections enshrined in the Fourth Amendment.
Vice President JD Vance gives remarks following a roundtable discussion with local leaders and community members amid a surge of federal immigration authorities in the area, at Royalston Square on January 22, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Key Facts
Vance told reporters, “We’re talking about different types of warrants that exist in our system,” adding, “Typically in the immigration system, those are handled by administrative law judges. So we’re talking about getting warrants from them.”
Vance said it is the Trump administration’s understanding “that you can enforce the immigration laws of the country under an administrative order if you have an administrative warrant.”
Judicial warrants are signed by judges and require probable cause to authorize the search of a home and seizure of evidence or persons, while administrative warrants are signed by an official of an agency, such as an ICE field director or immigration judge—who is appointed by the attorney general—to authorize an agent to only make an arrest or seizure.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told Forbes in an email that every person served an administrative warrant has had “full due process and a final order of removal from an immigration judge,” adding the officers issuing the warrants found probable cause.
Crucial Quote
“Now it’s possible I guess that the courts will say ‘no’ and of course if the courts say ‘no’ we would follow that law,” Vance added.
Chief Critic
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called for congressional hearings over the ICE memo Wednesday and said the policy was “unlawful & morally repugnant,” noting administrative warrants “do not rise to the level of a judicial warrant permitting entry into a home or its surrounding area as required under long-standing Fourth Amendment jurisprudence.”
Key Background
The ICE memo, first reported by the Associated Press, has not been widely circulated throughout the agency despite it being used to train new ICE officers. The AP noted new hires and trainees within ICE have been told to follow the memo’s guidance instead of written training materials that contradict the recent policy. It is unclear how many home raids have been conducted under the administrative warrants mentioned in the memo, as multiple reports in the last week have covered ICE agents forcefully entering homes in Minnesota, where protests have exploded following a federal officer’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good. One line in the memo named Texas as a state where ICE agents have relied on administrative warrants to arrest people living in the U.S. without legal permission, adding “targeted arrest operations” were done in court districts sympathetic to the Trump administration’s agenda to deport people “should a targeted person litigate their unlawful arrest.”
Further Reading
ICE Agents Told They Can Enter Homes Without Judge’s Warrant, Report Says (Forbes)
Trump Threatens To Use Insurrection Act In Minnesota (Forbes)
