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Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025

Do administrative warrants allow ICE to enter and search your house?

Deanna Pistono, MinnPost
no

An administrative warrant does not allow ICE or any other law enforcement agency to enter or search your house. 

Unlike judicial warrants, administrative warrants are not signed by a judge. They are issued by administrative agencies, such as ICE or Customs and Border Patrol. 

Administrative warrants allow law enforcement agents to detain the person indicated on the warrant in an area where they do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Areas like these would include public settings, like a grocery store or a park, but not someone’s home or non-public parts of a workplace. 

If ICE or other law enforcement agents approach your door, the Immigrant Defense Project and other groups recommend that you ask to see a warrant signed by a judge, and if they do not have one, decline to let them in.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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