We asked experts whether ICE agents can arrest people without warrants or not. Here's what we learned

Yahoo

4 hours ago

On June 17, 2025, New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at a courthouse. Lander was there observing immigration court hearings and volunteering with a group that accompanied immigrants out of the building, a practice volunteers say provides comfort and witnesses in case immigrants are detained by law enforcement.
His arrest happened after he linked arms with an individual named Edgardo whom ICE agents were attempting to detain while the latter attended a hearing. When an agent accused Lander of "obstructing" them, he said, "You don't have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens [...] I'm not obstructing. I'm standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant."
Lander was released hours later and according to Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, all charges against him were dropped. Federal prosecutors said they were continuing to investigate actions "involving" Lander.
It was not clear at first whether Lander was talking about a judicial warrant for himself prior to this arrest, or for Edgardo. Lander's wife confirmed the judicial warrant he asked for was regarding Edgardo, the individual in court, "not for Brad."
Lenni Benson, professor of immigration and human rights law at New York School of Law, told Snopes over email that ICE's targeting of immigrants attending their court hearings like Edgardo's is "an attempt by the [Department of Homeland Security] to rapidly detain a high number of people, including those who have complied with all requests and have sought asylum."
Many online questioned whether ICE, which focuses on immigration-related crimes, had the authority to arrest people without a warrant, while others wondered whether ICE has the power to arrest U.S. citizens like Lander. Below, we break down the laws governing ICE agents, the warrants they use, their authority when it comes to U.S. citizens and the cases of Lander and Edgardo.
We spoke to a number of immigration lawyers and reached out to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). We also reached out to Lander's office and will update this story accordingly if we hear back.
According to 8 U.S. Code 1357, "Powers of immigration officers and employees," subsection "Powers without warrant," summarized below, immigration agents do not need warrants for the following actions:
To interrogate any alien or person believed to be alien about their right to be or remain in the United States.
To arrest an alien who, in the agent's presence, is apparently entering the United States in violation of laws or regulations, particularly if the agent has reason to believe the alien can escape before a warrant can be obtained.
To board and search for aliens on any vessel in the territorial waters of the United States within "reasonable distance" from any external boundary of the United States, as well as "any railway car, aircraft, conveyance, or vehicle, and within a distance of twenty-five miles from any such external boundary to have access to private lands, but not dwellings." This access is for the purpose of patrolling the border.
To arrest people for "felonies which have been committed and which are cognizable under any law of the United States regulating the admission, exclusion, expulsion, or removal of aliens, if he has reason to believe that the person so arrested is guilty of such felony and if there is likelihood of the person escaping before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest."
To make arrests: "A) for any offense against the United States, if the offense is committed in the officer's or employee's presence, or B) for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States, if the officer or employee has reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such a felony."
Per the code, immigration officers can arrest anyone without a warrant if officers are "performing duties relating to the enforcement of the immigration laws at the time of the arrest and if there is a likelihood of the person escaping before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest."
Aside from the exceptions outlined above under "Powers without warrant," ICE is required to present one of two warrants while making an arrest or conducting a search: either a judicial warrant to enter private property, or an administrative warrant from the agency authorizing an arrest or seizure.
Although Lander asked to see a judicial warrant for Edgardo, ICE is not required to present a judicial warrant in a public place like a courtroom. According to the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), a judicial warrant can only be issued by a court, must be signed by a state or federal judge, and authorizes "a law enforcement officer to make an arrest, a seizure, or a search of some private area, such as your home."
An administrative warrant (also referred to as an "immigration warrant" or "ICE warrant") can be signed by ICE itself. Per the NILC, an administrative warrant is "issued by a federal agency and may be signed by an 'immigration judge' or an 'immigration officer' (such as an ICE agent). Unlike a judicial warrant, an immigration warrant does not authorize a search or entry into your home or other private areas."
We spoke to a range of immigration experts who noted that while ICE can obtain judicial warrants against both immigrants and U.S. citizens, they hardly ever do so due to the requirement of convincing a federal judge to issue said warrant. Administrative warrants carry less legal weight, as in practice they allow an agency like ICE to give itself permission to carry out an arrest. Further, ICE cannot use administrative warrants to arrest U.S. citizens.
Benson told Snopes that while an administrative warrant should generally not be enforceable against anyone (immigrants and citizens included), it has often been accepted in many cases:
In general, no administrative warrant is enforceable against ANYONE. But administrative warrants are frequently accepted in a variety of settings, e.g., employer enforcement where an agency is looking for wage and hours records or compliance with verification of authorization to work. Individuals who are shown a warrant should read it carefully and can tell the officer they will not comply unless the warrant is issued by a member of the federal judiciary. State judges do not have the power to grant federal officers the right to arrest.
Sarah Owings, an immigration attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, told Snopes over the phone that ICE has no administrative warrant powers over U.S. citizens. "A judicial warrant could be obtained to arrest a U.S. citizen, but they are not going to do that," she said.
One reason is because of how complex the process of obtaining such a warrant can be. In a phone conversation, Nathan Yaffe, an immigration lawyer in New York, told Snopes that while an administrative warrant could simply be signed by an ICE official, the process for getting a judicial warrant can take longer: "You have to convince the judge that there is probable cause [their] search will reveal a crime or unlawful activity."
However, Yaffe added, the focus on the type of warrant needed to arrest individuals is a distraction from ICE's general practices.
"It's unfortunate that many elected officials and people in the media are fixating on the judicial warrant aspect, because it has never been the case that ICE gets judicial warrants prior to making arrests. It is extraordinarily rare," he said.
He continued, "[The demand for a warrant] is founded on an inaccurate premise that ICE is operating 'lawfully' to get a judicial warrant. It wrongly creates exceptionalism around this moment and feeds into the idea there is a procedural justice fix. People should be attacking ICE practices across the board and not just under Trump in that case. There is a good argument [ICE] needs an administrative warrant to make the arrest but even that practice is not a meaningful layer of protection because ICE is basically giving itself permission."
ICE generally does not have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens without a warrant except in certain circumstances. Yaffe said all three of the following criteria would have to be met to justify the arrest of a citizen:
ICE has to be actively in the middle of performing duties related to immigration enforcement.
The person they are arresting has to have been committing an "offense against the United States." That would be a subset of federal crimes.
There has to have been "a likelihood of the person escaping before a warrant could be obtained."
As stated in 8 U.S. Code 1357, in section 5 of "Powers without warrant," agents can arrest anyone "for any offense against the United States, if the offense is committed in the officer's or employee's presence" or "for any felony" and if the agent believes the citizen will escape before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest.
In a news release, the New York American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called Lander's arrest "a stunning abuse of power and a threat to our democracy":
Arresting a public official, the duly-elected comptroller of the City of New York, for asking questions is dangerous intimidation and shows a wanton disregard for the will of the people of New York. It sends an unmistakably authoritarian message — that ICE doesn't care about the rule of law and that anyone exercising their right to challenge ICE and speak up for immigrants will be punished.
DHS sent us a statement from Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in which she accused Lander of assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer:
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer. Our heroic ICE law enforcement officers face a 413% increase in assaults against them — it is wrong that politicians seeking higher office undermine law enforcement safety to get a viral moment. No one is above the law, and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences.
Looking at footage of Lander, we could not see any evidence of him assaulting law enforcement; rather, he kept repeating, "I will let go [of the immigrant] when you show me the judicial warrant [for Edgardo]."
Lander had linked arms with Edgardo, the individual being detained by ICE. Lander was eventually separated and held against a wall, where ICE agents handcuffed him. After an agent accused him of "obstruction," he said, "I'm not obstructing, I'm standing right here in the hallway, I have to see the judicial warrant."
Under the U.S. Code, Yaffe told us, the following criteria would have to be true for ICE to justify Lander's arrest, and in his view the conditions were clearly "not met":
[If] Lander was assaulting an officer or committing a crime against the United States. It would be a closer call if [ICE] said 'obstruction of justice' was taking place. [...] They would [also] have to say they believed Lander would evade their attempt to arrest him by going into hiding, or escaping before they could get a warrant [for Lander]."
Yaffe added that he believed the idea that Lander, who is New York City's comptroller and running for mayor, would attempt to evade the law is "ridiculous."
"We are in very unprecedented times," Owings told Snopes. "[By] making decisions to use police powers against people who should not be subject to them."
When it comes to Edgardo, the immigrant detained by ICE, Yaffe noted they still would have needed a warrant to arrest him at an immigration court "or [had] an individualized determination that he was a flight risk." In general, he said, "ICE is not making individualized findings about people they are arresting right now. [Or] they are just implementing a blanket policy. I am confident that there wasn't a warrant for [Edgardo's] arrest."
Regardless, Edgardo was taken into ICE detention and had no lawyer, according to Lander. Lander said after his own release: "Tonight, I'll go home and sleep in my bed. I have a lawyer, I'll get due process. But Edgardo, whose arm was ripped from mine by ICE agents, has none of those things."
Benson said Lander could "have asked for identification of the officer approaching and questioned the officer on why they had a reasonable suspicion of alienage other than the [immigrant] person's presence in the immigration court."
While we do not know the specifics of Edgardo's case, he appeared to be cooperating with the government requirement to appear in immigration court. That people like him are being detained is, according to Benson, a sign of rising numbers of immigrant arrests by DHS, including the arrests of people who comply with the legal process of seeking asylum:
But under our domestic and international laws, the DHS cannot summarily deport people who have a credible fear of persecution in their country. So what should happen even if the case is terminated, is that the individual will have the right to present his/her/their claim to an asylum officer who if finding it meets the lower standard, will put the person into REGULAR removal proceedings. Exactly where these people were before the case was terminated.
Despite the above restrictions, as of this writing ICE has still detained and deported numerous U.S. citizens in 2025, including children born in the United States.
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