DHS memo declares the Fourth Amendment optional
The question is whether the Fourth Amendment exists at all or only when federal agencies decide it protects them.
A leaked memo from the Department of Homeland Security makes it clear that the agency sees the Constitution, at most, as an inconvenience. The memo authorizes armed and masked ICE agents to enter homes without judicial warrants.
The Fourth Amendment exists to ensure your home is your most private place, and that government goons can’t decide on their own to simply walk in. The DHS is acting as if the US Constitution, a document conservative wingnuts used to demand we revere in its original form, does not apply to them.
The memo, dated May 12, which reads that it is from ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, was shared with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., by two whistleblowers.
It says ICE agents are allowed to forcibly enter a person’s home using an administrative warrant if a judge has issued a “final order of removal.” Administrative warrants permit officers and agents to make arrests and are different from judicial warrants, which judges or magistrates sign allowing entry into homes.
Lyons notes in the document that detaining people “in their residences” based solely on administrative warrants is a change from past procedures.
The question is not whether someone “merits” enforcement. The question is whether the Fourth Amendment exists at all or only when federal agencies decide it protects them.