WHAT’S AT STAKE
As Senate Democrats negotiate with the White House over a possible deal on immigration enforcement, their demand on warrants is a major point of contention with Republicans.
Democrats want to see the administration lean more heavily on the use of judicial warrants, which require signoff by a judge, in certain situations. Right now, enforcement agents are often using administrative warrants, or internal documents signed by immigration officers that authorize specific arrests but not searches.
Democrats have zeroed in on the issue following reporting from the Associated Press on internal guidance telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers they can enter a person’s residence with only an administrative warrant. The New York Times reported on a subsequent memo authorizing ICE agents to conduct warrantless arrests of suspected undocumented immigrants.
In a Wednesday letter to Republican leaders, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries demanded that a judicial warrant be required in order for Department of Homeland Security officials to enter private property. They also called for ending “indiscriminate arrests” and improving “warrant procedures and standards.”
In this article:
WHO’S MAKING THE CASE
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who was one of the lead negotiators in bipartisan border security talks during the Biden administration, said a dramatic shift in the use of administrative warrants would “handcuff” ICE:
“That is a way to make the whole country a sanctuary country. For people that are not tracking what that actually means, that means that ICE can do almost no arrests in the entire country … If a court rules that there’s a final order of removal, they’re removed actually by an administrative warrant, not a judicial warrant.
“So that would mean the millions of people who have a final order of removal from a court couldn’t actually be removed if we only had judicial warrants. So it’s a very clever way to say, ‘Well, a court should be involved in this,’ but they know full well that you have to have an additional federal crime. Even someone that had three DUIs and a rape and an assault couldn’t be removed unless you have an administrative warrant.
“To block all administrative warrants, it would handcuff ICE.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., a member of the Judiciary Committee, argued that the point of the policy would be to reign in ICE given the lack of trust in the agency following killings of US citizens in Minnesota:
“At this point, the administration’s credibility is shot, and it’s essential that a neutral and disinterested magistrate, to use the traditional phrase, signs off on the behavior or misbehavior of ICE and CBP.”
“It’s supposed to hamstring ICE. That’s the purpose. We need to hamstring ICE. They’re running around shooting people. They’re dragging people out of their cars for the color of their skin.”
Notable
Immigration rights groups filed a lawsuit in Boston challenging the government policy allowing ICE agents to enter a suspect’s home with just an administrative warrant, Reuters reported.
Most Republicans support President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda, but a growing number believe the administration has gone too far, The New York Times reported.