Immigration arrests are usually made on warrants signed by immigration officers, not judges. That difference in who signs the paper has consequences, above all for entry into a home, and in 2025–26 it became the center of a legal dispute.
Quick Facts
- Administrative warrants: Form I-200 (arrest) and Form I-205 (removal), signed by immigration officers
- Judicial warrants: signed by a judge on a finding of probable cause
- Home arrests: ordinarily require a judicial warrant, consent or exigent circumstances (Payton v. New York)
- Detainers: Form I-247A is a request to a jail, not a warrant
Administrative warrants
ICE arrests people for civil immigration violations on a Form I-200, Warrant for Arrest of Alien, issued under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), and carries out removal orders on a Form I-205, Warrant of Removal/Deportation. Both are signed by designated immigration officers within DHS. No judge reviews them before they issue.
Judicial warrants and the home
A judicial warrant is issued by a neutral judge or magistrate on a finding of probable cause. The Supreme Court has held that the Fourth Amendment bars police from entering a home without a warrant to make a routine arrest, absent consent or exigent circumstances (Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573 (1980)). The long-standing understanding has been that an administrative immigration warrant does not by itself authorize forcible entry into a home.
That understanding was challenged by an ICE memorandum of May 12, 2025, disclosed by whistleblowers in January 2026. It states that officers may forcibly enter a home on an I-205 warrant when a final order of removal exists. The memorandum has been criticized as inconsistent with the Fourth Amendment and has been challenged in federal court.
Arrests without any warrant
Immigration officers may arrest without a warrant only if they have reason to believe the person is in the United States in violation of law and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained (8 U.S.C. § 1357(a)(2)). Compliance with that limit has itself been litigated. In Chicago it is the subject of a consent decree that a federal court enforced during a 2025 enforcement operation (Castañón Nava).
Detainers
A detainer, usually on Form I-247A, asks a jail or prison to notify ICE before releasing a person and to hold the person for up to 48 hours beyond the time of release so that ICE can take custody (8 C.F.R. § 287.7). It is a request, not a court order, and it is not signed by a judge.
After an arrest
Whether a person can be released on bond, and what a court can do about detention, depends on the statute the government invokes. See Habeas Corpus: the Order to Bring the Detained Person Before a Judge.