CREATORS: America must be vigilant

Matthew T. Mangino
CREATORS
January 27, 2026

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is operating under an ill-advised internal memo suggesting that ICE agents do not need to obtain a search warrant to enter a home while investigating or enforcing illegal immigration. The memo is misguided and an affront to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The Fourth Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights, added to the Constitution in 1791. In its simplest form, it protects the people from an overzealous government. It was important to the founding fathers over two-and-a-quarter centuries ago and it is important today.

I have written about the origins of the Fourth Amendment, but it bears revisiting. The United Kingdom's greed in the late seventeenth century contributed to the establishment of the Bill of Rights.

In Britain, the prevailing economic philosophy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was to look to colonies to enrich the "mother country." To that end, Britain did not want their colonies trading with any other countries. To prevent trade with other nations, the British imposed high "tariffs" on imported goods from countries other than Britain.

In return, American colonists began smuggling goods from other countries into the colonies. In response, Britain began cracking down on smugglers. The British began utilizing writs of assistance. The writs gave customs officials enormous power and discretion.

The writs were general search warrants that did not have an expiration date, did not have to provide a basis for suspicion or any particularity of the place or basis for the search. They let officials enter the homes of colonists at any time for any reason.

The greed led to rebellion and, in no small part, to the revolution that ended with independence for the United States of America.

When it came time to draft a constitution for the new country, the Fourth Amendment was written precisely to prevent the new government from running roughshod over its citizens.

The Fourth Amendment reads:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized."

It is among the most sacred safeguards of individual liberty embedded in the Constitution.

According to The Associated Press, ICE distributed a memo that provides agents with the authority to forcibly enter homes and arrest immigrants using only a signed administrative warrant if they also have a final order of removal issued by a judge.

The administrative warrant is not signed by a judge. People do not have to open their doors, including the target of an immigration investigation, unless they are shown a warrant signed by a judge. That guidance is rooted in Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial approval.

It has long been the law in this country that, like a soldier, a law enforcement agent does not have to carry out an unlawful or unconstitutional order. Advising ICE agents that they can forcibly enter a home without a warrant signed by a judge is unconstitutional — obeying an unconstitutional order does not absolve an officer of criminal or civil liability.

The Fourth Amendment was how a burgeoning nation prevented tyranny. The colonists tasted despotism and did not like it.

We are now at a point in this nation where a government agency can come into your home any time, day or night, to see who is in your home or to take into custody a person who might be in this country without proper documentation. The colonists didn't like it in 1776, and we don't like it today.

The work of protecting the rights and privileges of the U.S. Constitution never ends. America must be vigilant in protecting the rights of all men and women.

Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly & George P.C. His book The Executioner's Toll, 2010, was released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewTMangino

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