Judicial Warrant or ICE Administrative Warrant: What Should a Supervisor Check?
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Reviewed & verified by A. Jason Velez, Esq.*
Founding Attorney, 1LAW · Last reviewed September 23, 2026
Legal Inquiry
Consumer Legal Issue
What is the difference between an administrative warrant and a judicial warrant, and what should we look for?
What is the practical difference between a judicial warrant and an administrative (DHS) warrant, and how should a supervisor verify which one they are being shown?
Attorney Answer
A judicial warrant is signed by a judge or magistrate and authorizes a search of described premises or the arrest of a named person. An ICE Form I-200 (warrant of arrest) or I-205 (warrant of removal) is agency paperwork signed by an immigration officer; it is not a judicial warrant even when it follows an immigration judge's removal order. Read the document for: who issued and signed it, the named person, the address, the places or items it authorizes, the dates, and whether it is an arrest or search warrant.
An arrest warrant is not a general search warrant for other premises. Under Payton v. New York a judicial arrest warrant lets officers enter the subject's own home when there is reason to believe he is inside, but 'absent exigent circumstances, that threshold may not reasonably be crossed without a warrant'; under Steagald an arrest warrant for one person does not authorize entering a third party's premises to look for him without consent or exigency. Both are home cases and apply to a non-public jobsite by analogy. ICE's own regulation requires 'either a warrant or the consent of the owner or other person in control of the site' for non-public areas (8 C.F.R. § 287.8(f)(2)); one district court has read 'warrant' there to mean a judicial warrant (Kidd v. Wolf, C.D. Cal. 2024, an unreported district-court decision).
ICE's May 12, 2025 'Utilizing Form I-205' memo asserts authority to enter a residence on an I-205 after a final removal order. The memo is real; it was made public as an exhibit to a January 21, 2026 Senate letter. As of September 22, 2026 no court has enjoined it: challenges in D.D.C. (Gibson Brown v. Mullin) and D. Mass. (Greater Boston Latino Network v. Noem) are at the motion-to-dismiss stage, and DHS says the practice is 'paused' under review, not rescinded. Treat it as a policy document, not law; do not treat it as blanket jobsite authority; and do not physically resist entry.
Cases Cited
Published decisions relevant to this issue, provided as legal background rather than advice about any particular case.
- Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573 (1980) — U.S. Supreme Court
Absent exigency, officers may not cross the threshold of a home without a warrant; a judicial arrest warrant allows entry only into the subject's own dwelling. - Steagald v. United States, 451 U.S. 204 (1981) — U.S. Supreme Court
An arrest warrant does not authorize a search of a third party's premises.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How can a supervisor tell a judicial warrant from an ICE warrant?
Check who issued and signed it. A judicial warrant is signed by a judge or magistrate; an ICE Form I-200 or I-205 is signed by an immigration officer and is agency paperwork, even when it follows an immigration judge's removal order.
Does an ICE administrative warrant let agents search non-public areas?
ICE's own rule requires either a warrant or the consent of the owner or person in control of the site to enter non-public areas. An arrest warrant for one person is not a general search warrant for someone else's premises.
Has a court blocked ICE's 2025 policy on entering homes with an I-205?
Not as of September 22, 2026. The policy has been challenged in federal court in Washington, D.C. and Massachusetts, and DHS has said the practice is paused under review, not rescinded. It is a policy document, not a court ruling, and not blanket authority for a jobsite.