A federal judge ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) practice of arresting illegal immigrants without a warrant at their homes is unconstitutional. The ruling, which applies only to ICE’s Los Angeles field office, follows a lawsuit filed by migrant rights activists who argued that agents rarely obtained warrants and instead relied on migrants voluntarily answering the door. ICE’s ‘knock and talk’ tactic accounted for at least 8% of arrests made in 2022, according to expert testimony. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which argued against the tactic in court, celebrated the ruling as a victory for constitutional rights.
