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An Open Letter

To: Rep. Nunn, Sen. Ernst, Sen. Grassley

From: A constituent in Des Moines, IA

January 23

I am a constituent writing with serious concern about reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has authorized agents to enter private homes without a judge-signed warrant. This policy threatens the core Fourth Amendment protection against warrantless government intrusion into people’s homes. This is not an immigration policy dispute. It is a constitutional crisis. The Fourth Amendment exists precisely to prevent executive agencies from deciding for themselves when they may break into a home. An internal memo cannot override the Constitution. Administrative warrants are not judicial warrants. Forced entry without a judge’s approval is unconstitutional except in narrowly defined exigent circumstances. If one federal agency can claim authority to enter homes without judicial oversight, then no agency is meaningfully bound by the Fourth Amendment. This precedent endangers every household, not just immigrant families. No family should fear a knock at the door turning into a forced entry by armed federal agents acting without a judge’s authorization. I am asking you to take two immediate steps. First, please publicly state on the record that ICE may not enter private homes without a judge-signed warrant and that warrantless home entry violates the Fourth Amendment. Second, please initiate or sign a joint congressional oversight letter demanding that the Department of Homeland Security rescind this directive immediately and reaffirm that judicial warrants are required for home entry. If DHS refuses to reverse this policy, I urge you to pursue follow-up oversight actions, including a congressional briefing from DHS and ICE leadership, formal oversight hearings, and legislation that codifies the requirement of a judicial warrant for all federal home-entry operations. Please make your position public. Silence on warrantless home entry will be interpreted as acquiescence to unconstitutional policing. A government that can enter homes without judicial approval is not a free society. I urge you to act now to defend the Fourth Amendment and the rule of law.

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