Part of President Trump’s crackdown on immigration includes lifting restrictions on where federal agents can conduct immigration enforcement, sparking some backlash and uncertainty amid a surge in raids across the country.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, said it arrested more than 1,000 people on Tuesday. In 2024, an average of 312 people were arrested per day.
Hours after Mr. Trump’s inauguration, his administration revoked a policy that prohibited arrests by U.S. immigration agents at or near schools, places of worship and other “sensitive locations.”
Speaking to “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Vice President JD Vance said the change in policy empowers “law enforcement to enforce the law everywhere.”
Some Catholic leaders have expressed concern about the potential impact in churches, and school officials are issuing guidance on how to handle immigration-related issues at schools. Some local officials have also criticized ICE for how agents are conducting raids.
However, experts say there are still limits on where immigration officials can operate, and constitutional protections remain. Here’s what to know.
Where ICE can operate
The Department of Homeland Security has followed a policy since 2011 that restricted ICE enforcement actions, including arrests, interviews, searches and surveillance, at “sensitive” locations such as schools, churches and hospitals.
Under former President Joe Biden, the department issued a policy in 2021 that expanded on the definitions of what is considered “protected areas” for both ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Anyone, including ICE agents, can enter public areas without permission. Examples of public areas include lobbies, dining areas in restaurants and waiting rooms, according to the National Immigration Law Center, a nonprofit advocacy organization known as NILC.
The NILC said ICE agents cannot enter private areas — such as a home or an employee-only area like a breakroom — without permission or a judicial warrant signed by a judge.
Because ICE officers typically don’t have warrants signed by judges, they sometimes wait for unauthorized immigrants to come outside of their homes to arrest them, or convince homeowners to give them entry.
Regardless of being in a public or private space, anyone approached by ICE agents has the right to remain silent.
The reasonable expectation of privacy is protected by the Fourth Amendment and the right to remain silent is protected by the Fifth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.
“Every person maintains constitutional rights within the United States, regardless of the sensitive locations policy or not,” Heidi Altman, NILC’s vice president of policy, told CBS News.
However, there are limits on Fourth Amendment protections. A federal regulation allows CBP agents without a warrant to enter and search buses, trains, boats and aircraft within 100 miles of a land or sea border.
The NILC said ICE agents who are in public spaces or are authorized to enter private spaces can make arrests if they have an administrative warrant or probable cause.
An administrative warrant is issued by a federal agency, such as ICE or CBP, and enables an officer to make an arrest or seizure, but it does not authorize a search, according to the NILC.
An administrative warrant can be signed by an immigration judge or immigration officer, whereas a judicial warrant must be issued by a judicial court and signed by a judge or magistrate judge.
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