1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

A leaked internal memo from Immigration and Customs Enforcement signed by Acting Director Todd Lyons reveals the agency has granted itself sweeping new powers to conduct warrantless arrests that appear to violate the Fourth Amendment. This development demonstrates that ICE has become an agency operating beyond constitutional constraints and must be abolished. The memo fundamentally rewrites decades of legal standards. Previously, ICE agents could only make warrantless arrests when they believed someone posed a flight risk and was unlikely to comply with court obligations. The new standard allows arrests of anyone agents believe is "unlikely to be located at the scene of the encounter or another clearly identifiable location once an administrative warrant is obtained." This language is so expansive that it renders the warrant requirement meaningless. Former ICE officials have sounded the alarm. Scott Shuchart, former head of policy at ICE under President Biden, stated the memo "bends over backwards to say that ICE agents have nothing but green lights to make an arrest without even a supervisor's approval." Claire Trickler-McNulty, former senior adviser at ICE during the Biden administration, warned the language "would cover essentially anyone they want to arrest without a warrant, making the general premise of ever getting a warrant pointless." Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council noted the memo appears designed to circumvent court orders requiring DHS to follow statutory language limiting warrantless arrests to people "likely to escape." Stanford political scientist Tom Clark questioned whether the memo conflicts with Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, noting that government officials cannot simply write memos exempting themselves from legal constraints. When an agency claims authority to arrest people without warrants, without supervisor approval, and in direct contradiction to statutory and constitutional requirements, that agency has demonstrated it cannot function within our legal system. I urge you to support legislation to abolish ICE and replace it with immigration enforcement mechanisms that respect constitutional rights and operate under proper legal oversight.