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When ICE is at your Home- Know Your Rights

When ICE is at your Home- Know Your Rights

by Ian Taronji

The Initial Encounter: Stay Calm and Take Control

It is the moment every immigrant fears – a loud knock at the door at 5:00 am, a lot of commotion and noise, and the person on the other side of door yells “Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Open the door immediately!” Everyone in the house becomes alarmed and some people will even begin to panic, screaming or crying. The point of this post is to explain how you should act, what you should say and do, and more importantly what you should not say and not do.

The first thing is to remain calm. I know that sounds ridiculous under such a stressful situation, but calm is required. If there are other people panicked and crying or screaming, get them away from the door and to their rooms. There should be only one individual communicating with the officer on the other side of the door.

Communicating with ICE: What to Say and Not Say

The next step is to ask the officer to identify himself and to show a badge, either through a peephole or a window. If the officer produces a badge, you should say the following: “You do not have my permission to enter or search this home.” You should literally not say anything else, no matter what the officer says. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR.

“We are looking for Jose Gomez Rodriguez, is he inside?”
“You do not have my permission to enter or search this home.”

“Who am I speaking to? What is your name sir?”
“You do not have my permission to enter or search this home.”

“We have a warrant to search this home for Jose Gomez Rodriguez. Open the door now!”
“You do not have my permission to enter or search this home.”

“We will break down this door if you do not open it immediately!!!”
“You do not have my permission to enter or search this home.”

Understanding Warrants: Judicial vs. Administrative

Let them break down the door. But do not under any circumstances open the door or voluntarily allow any officer to enter. My brilliant colleague David Secor wrote a fantastic post on the differences between ICE administrative warrants and judicially-signed warrants and it is worth your time and attention.  But if you find yourself in this situation, you should not be reading a legal document to determine whether it is the type of warrant that gives legal authorization to enter the home or if it is simply an administrative document that does not give legal authorization to enter the home. If history is a guide, the vast majority of the times the officer will not have the kind of warrant that permits non-consensual entry into the home.  ICE usually enters homes because people allow them to do so.

If ICE Enters or You Are Taken into Custody

But what if they do have legal authorization to enter the home and they do break down the door?  Then you have a broken door.  It is important to not argue or fight with any officer. Most importantly, you should not answer any questions, including your name, whether you live at the home or elsewhere, what is your immigration status, or who are your family members. Understand that refusing to answer the officer’s questions means that you may well be taken into custody. Of course, that was a likelihood when ICE showed up at 5 AM. Do not resist.

Creating a Plan for Worst-Case Scenarios

So what happens if you are taken into custody? This is where planning for the worst-case scenario is called for. All undocumented immigrants, regardless whether they are in some legal process, should have a plan in place in case they are arrested by ICE. The first part of the plan is memorizing a trusted individual’s phone number. It can be a spouse, parent, child, friend, or anyone else in a position of trust. You must memorize the phone number because if you are taken into custody, they will take away your cellphone. You and this trusted individual should write down a plan of what to do and whom to contact if you are arrested, and then set it aside somewhere and hope that you never need to look at it.

But if you do call and have been arrested, either at home or on the street, that individual can look at the sheet of paper and start with #1 and work their way down the list. What should be on the list?

  • my A-number and all identifying information,
  • pick up my child at school or daycare,
  • call my immigration lawyer,
  • call my boss and explain why I’m not at work,
  • call my family member
  • copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates, tax returns

Everyone’s plan will be different, but it is important that it is written out in advance because nobody makes good decisions in a panic, and a stressful moment like this is not when you want somebody else thinking “now what do I do?”

Be Prepared: Staying Resilient in Challenging Times

These next few years will be difficult for the undocumented immigrant communities here in the United States. The changes are happening by the day, but the attorneys and staff at Benach Collopy are reviewing and studying the changes as they happen so we can provide the very best up to the minute advice to our clients. We are dedicated to fighting for immigrants, particularly now when everything seems stacked against them.

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