Dem Senator Hammers ICE Chief Over ‘Secret Memo’ Allowing Feds to Enter Homes Without a Judicial Warrant

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) questioned ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons during a Senate Homeland Security hearing on Thursday about the recently revealed “secret memo” he wrote allowing ICE agents to enter Americans’ homes without a judicial warrant.

Blumenthal began, “I don’t want to talk about new laws. I want to talk about a very old one: the Constitution of the United States, specifically the Fourth Amendment. Picture is of ICE agents forcing their way into the Minneapolis home of Garrison Gibson, banging down the door, detaining Mr. Gibson in front of his wife, Tiana, and their 10-year-old daughter and niece, who happened to be there at the time.”

While showing the vira image of Gibson, the Connecticut Democrat continued, “ I don’t know whether you’re familiar with what happened here. It’s one of many, many, many similar incidents that have happened all around the country, and it was done pursuant to what is called an administrative… I’m going to hold up a copy of that. Signed by an SDDO, who is, I believe, a member of the ICE workforce, another agent—a supervisory detention and deportation officer—not a judge, correct?”

Lyons replied, “Correct, Senator.”

Blumenthal continued, “So, in effect, this is not a warrant. It’s a permission slip. It’s a green light from another ICE agent: bash down a door, smash into a home, detain and arrest someone without a judge finding probable cause and without any sort of objective, independent finding.”

Lyons replied, “So the I-205 is the arrest warrant, but the I-205 is based on an executable final order issued by an immigration judge from…”

Blumenthal shot back, “And that order is from an immigration judge who is part of the executive branch, not an independent judge. The warrant issued is simply a permission slip. Let’s be very clear: you were a local police officer. To bang down a door, barge into someone’s home, if you’re the FBI or a local police officer, you need a judicial warrant from a judicial officer—a judge who is going to find or not probable cause, which has a specific meaning under the law. These ICE agents are banging down doors, doing the same thing without that kind of judicial warrant. What is so different about ICE that it regards itself as an exception to the Fourth Amendment? And the requirement for a judicial warrant is a Fourth Amendment requirement.”

The exchange continued from there:

Lyons: We don’t, Senator. There is case law—US v. Lucas, 2007, which is out of the 8th District of Minnesota—which authorizes the entry of a home to catch a fugitive based on an administrative warrant.

Blumenthal: I beg your pardon, sir. It does not abrogate the Fourth Amendment. It does not say that ICE agents or CBP agents can simply bash down doors and barge into people’s homes, terrorize their children, detain and arrest people without a judicial warrant. And there is nothing different about what ICE does as compared to the FBI or local police that would justify it. The policy that they’re acting under, in fact, is the result of a memo that you issued in May. You’re familiar with it?

Lyons: Yes, sir.

Blumenthal: Has your signature?

Lyons: Yes, sir.

Blumenthal: Which says, in effect, they don’t need judicial warrants. They can act on the basis of the 205 warrant that you’ve just described, which is administrative. It’s not judicial.

Lyons: Let’s talk…

Blumenthal: Why did you keep this memo secret?

Lyons: I didn’t keep that memo secret, sir. It was blasted out to—

Blumenthal: Well, we learned about it when two whistleblowers came to us and said that you were using it as a basis for the policy. It was never announced publicly. It was not released to the press or the American people.

Lyons: Why did you keep it secret?

Blumenthal: Sorry—

Lyons: I didn’t keep it a secret. If sending an email to a workforce of 30,000 people is keeping something secret, it’s a bad secret.

Blumenthal: It never reached those people.

Lyons: Yes, sir, it did. The email did, sir. Yes, sir. I can work with your committee to get staff to get that.

Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.

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