Original Date Announced

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons issued a memorandum providing guidance on warrantless arrest authority for civil violations of immigration laws. It provides that ICE officers are required to ensure that arrest warrants are issued for all targeted noncitizens prior to conducting targeted arrest operations. Where ICE officers encounter noncitizens who are not targets, they must determine whether an administrative warrant can be obtained. If not, officers must consider whether a warrantless arrest is permissible.

The memorandum provides that warrantless arrests may be made if the officer has probable cause to believe that the subject is (1) removable and (2) “likely to escape” before a warrant may be obtained. Likelihood of escape requires a determination “based on the totality of the circumstances known to the immigration officer at the time of the encounter and prior to the arrest.” The memorandum states that ICE previously, incorrectly, interpreted “likely to escape” as the equivalent of “flight risk.” However, the memorandum emphasizes that flight risk determinations are made after arrest, whereas likelihood of escape determinations require an on-the-spot analysis. Lastly, the memorandum requires officers to document relevant likelihood of escape factors “as soon as practicable” following the arrest.

The memorandum was made public through documents produced in Hussen v. Noem, No. 0:26-cv-00324 (D. Minn.).

Trump 2.0 [ID #2190]

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2026.03.09 Order on Motion for Preliminary Injunction - Hussen v. Noem

District Judge Eric Tostrud denied plaintiffs' motions for a preliminary injunction and class certification in a lawsuit challenging, inter alia, Defendants' warrantless arrest policies. Despite denying these motions, the court concluded that Defendants " have a policy authorizing their officers to arrest individuals without probable cause to believe that the arrestee had committed a crime or was likely to escape before a warrant could be obtained." The court discusses the Lyons Memorandum that is the subject of this entry and explains that although the memo defines "likely to escape" to involve inquiry into whether the subject "is unlikely to be located at the scene of the encounter or another clearly identifiable location once an administrative warrant is obtained,” there is no evidence that officers attempted to determine whether the arrestees would have been at some other suitable location. The court did not analyze the sufficiency of the Lyons memo itself.

Hussen v. Noem, No. 0:26-cv-00324 (D. Minn.).

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