Sen. Ted Cruz speaks during a roundtable discussion at the U.S. Capitol March 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
Republicans, who hold 53 seats in the Senate, require the help of at least seven Democrats to advance legislation over the 60-vote threshold to defeat a filibuster.
But Democrats have conditions for their support.
Warrant requirements have surfaced as one of the many concessions Democrats have floated as a necessary safeguard to avoid detentions that have sparked public unrest in Minnesota. That’s the position of Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
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"I think that’s a basic requirement of the Fourth Amendment," Blumenthal said, referencing the Constitution's protections against government searches and seizures.
Under current law, ICE does have some warrant requirements.
Scott Andrew Fulks, who runs a private law practice in Minnesota, explained that ICE operates through two different standards.
Like other law enforcement agencies, ICE must secure a judicial warrant from a judge to enter a person’s home, an area safeguarded against random entry by the constitutional protections mentioned by Blumenthal.
"A judicial warrant would have to be signed, of course, by a judge and would allow them to forcibly enter a home if someone did not open up the door for them," Fulks explained.
But in public, Fulks explained that ICE can detain targets with a lower bar — the authority granted by an administrative warrant. Administrative warrants allow ICE to detain individuals who have received an order of removal and depend only on the status of the individual, Fulks said.
He noted that’s where some of ICE’s more visible confrontations come from.
"ICE currently can also just simply detain people or question people by asking them about their paperwork and whether or not they are an immigrant to the United States, whether they have lawful status in the United States or permanent residency or if they're a citizen," Fulks said.
Questions have emerged among Democrats about how loosely ICE is interpreting current requirements. Blumenthal noted that a leaked memo last week seemed to indicate ICE believed it had the power to enter personal residences without a judicial warrant.
"We received from two whistleblowers a secret memo showing that the acting director of ICE is authorizing ICE agents to break into people's homes, kick down the doors, storm into living rooms and bedrooms, arrest and detain people without a judicial warrant," Blumenthal said.
An ICE agent stands in front of a house in a residential area. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Republicans who were asked about the warrant requirements did not address the ongoing negotiations over DHS spending.
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Sen. Rick Scott, a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, said he would look to preserve the way the agency operates now.
"I think they should follow the existing law," Scott said of ICE operations.. "I think the Democrats want a shutdown."
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-dem-proposal-would-restrict-ices-key-tool-detain-criminal-illegal-aliens