What to Do If ICE Comes to Your Door: A Complete Guide to Your Rights

If you're reading this, you're probably scared. That's okay. Take a breath. What to do if ICE comes to your door is one of the most searched questions in the country right now, and the answer is simpler than you think.

You do not have to open your door. That is the single most important thing to know. The Fourth Amendment protects everyone inside the United States from unreasonable searches. It doesn't matter if you're a citizen, a green card holder, or undocumented. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who hold an administrative warrant cannot legally enter your home without your permission. The Supreme Court drew a "firm line at the entrance to the house" in Payton v. New York (1980).

This guide covers what you need to know to protect yourself and your family. How can you tell a real warrant from an ICE warrant? What should you say, and what should you never say? What happens if someone is detained? And how does California law protect you in ways that other states don't?

What should you do if ICE knocks on your door?

Do not open the door. That's the whole rule. When you open your door, even a crack, ICE can argue that you gave them permission to come inside. Once they're in, your options shrink fast.

Speak through the closed door instead. Say: "I do not consent to your entry. I am exercising my right to remain silent. I want to speak with a lawyer." You don't need to explain yourself. You don't need to be polite about it. Just say those words clearly. The script is straight from the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights guide.

If they claim to have a warrant, ask them to slide it under the door or hold it up to a window. Do not open the door to look at it. Read the paper carefully. Is it signed by a judge? Does it say "United States District Court" at the top? If it says "Department of Homeland Security" instead, it is an ICE administrative warrant. That kind of warrant doesn't give them the right to come inside.

If you can do it safely, record the conversation from inside your home. Audio or video, your call. Write down the time, the number of officers, their badge numbers if you can see them, and what they said. Your attorney will want all of this later.

Do not run. Do not physically resist. Do not sign any papers they push under the door. Tell everyone in your home the same thing. Practice it together so that if this moment ever comes, nobody panics and opens the door. It's that simple.

What is the difference between a judicial warrant and an ICE warrant?

This is the question that matters most. A judicial warrant is signed by a federal judge. An ICE administrative warrant is signed by an immigration officer under INA § 287 (8 U.S.C. § 1357), which sets out the limited powers of immigration officers to question, arrest, and search. The law limits when officers can arrest without a warrant, and it does not give them authority to enter a private home over your objection (see also 8 CFR Part 287). Without a judicial warrant and without your consent, ICE agents cannot enter your home. (Narrow exceptions exist for exigent circumstances, such as when agents believe someone inside is in immediate danger.)

Here's how to tell them apart without opening the door:

The government's own training materials confirm this. The Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC), which trains ICE officers, teaches agents that "a removal warrant does not authorize the ICE officer to enter into a reasonable-expectation-of-privacy area." FLETC tells officers that even if they know someone is inside, "the officer has no legal authority to enter" without consent or a judicial warrant.

What are your rights if ICE stops you on the street?

Your rights outside the home aren't as strong as your rights inside it. You still have them.

If an officer approaches you in public, the first thing to ask is: "Am I free to leave?" If they say yes, walk away calmly. If they say no, you are being detained. At that point, say: "I am exercising my right to remain silent. I want to speak with a lawyer."

You do not have to answer questions about where you were born, what country you are from, or how you got to the United States. Anything you say can be used against you in immigration court.

If you are not a U.S. citizen, are 18 or older and have valid immigration documents, federal law requires you to carry them (8 U.S.C. 1304(e)), and the ACLU's guidance is to show them if an immigration agent asks. If you do not have valid papers, the ACLU says you can decline and say you want to remain silent. Never show false documents. You still do not have to answer questions about where you were born or how you entered. If you are driving and an officer pulls you over, you must show your driver's license and registration. You still do not have to answer immigration questions. Hand them a Know Your Rights card and say nothing else.

If you are arrested, do not resist physically. Keep saying: "I do not consent to a search. I want a lawyer." Repeat it. These words create a legal record that can help you later.

What should you say (and not say) to ICE agents?

The Fifth Amendment gives you the right to stay silent. Everyone inside the United States has this right. Citizens, residents, visitors, undocumented people. Use it.

Why is lying worse than staying silent? Because giving false information to a federal officer is a separate crime. It can stack criminal charges on top of immigration consequences. Silence is legal. Lying isn't. And false documents can permanently destroy any future chance at legal status.

One more thing. Under the First Amendment, you have the right to record ICE agents in public spaces. If you see an ICE operation in your neighborhood, you can film it from a safe distance. Just don't physically interfere.

What if ICE enters your home without permission?

If agents enter your home without a judicial warrant and without your permission, they may be violating your constitutional rights. Don't fight them. Stay calm. Say clearly: "I do not consent to your entry or to any search." Say it more than once so anyone recording or listening can hear it.

Try to remember every detail. How many officers came in? What did they look like? Did they show a warrant? What did they say? Did they open drawers or go through closets? Write all of this down as soon as you can. An attorney can use these details to challenge the search and possibly get evidence thrown out.

If officers make an arrest, ask for the person's A-number (their alien registration number). Write it down. Ask where they're being taken. You'll need this information to find them later.

After the officers leave, do not throw away or destroy any documents they left behind. Keep everything. Call an immigration attorney or your local rapid response hotline right away. In Los Angeles, call (888) 624-4752.

What happens if you or a family member is detained?

If ICE detains someone, the first hours matter. Here's what happens and what to do about it.

The detained person will be processed and assigned an A-number. That's a 9-digit number starting with "A" that becomes their ID in the immigration system. Family members need this number. It's the key to locating them, checking case status, and talking to attorneys. Look for it on any old immigration paperwork: court notices, work permits, or application receipts.

The detained person has the right to call a lawyer. Immigration detention differs from criminal jail in one critical way: the government generally does not have to give you a free attorney. You have the right to a lawyer "at no expense to the Government" (8 U.S.C. 1229a(b)(4)(A)), so most people have to find their own, from a private attorney or a free nonprofit. A narrow exception: certain detained people without a lawyer whom a judge finds mentally incompetent to represent themselves can be given a qualified representative, under a court order covering Arizona, California and Washington or EOIR's nationwide policy (EOIR National Qualified Representative Program). Detention facilities must hand out a list of free or low-cost legal service providers. Ask for this list right away.

Request a bond hearing

Who can get a bond hearing is being fought over in the courts right now, so ask an immigration attorney what applies to you. Where a bond hearing is available, the judge decides whether to release you while your case moves forward, generally looking at whether you are a flight risk or a danger to the community (INA Section 236(a)).

Evidence often offered at a bond hearing includes family ties to U.S. citizens, stable employment, community involvement, years in the country, and a clean record.

Don't sign voluntary departure papers without a lawyer

This is one of the most dangerous moments in detention. ICE agents may ask you to sign papers that give up your chance to see a judge: a request to leave voluntarily, a Form I-826 (Notice of Rights and Request for Disposition, which lists choices that include giving up a hearing), or a stipulated removal order. They may tell you it's the fastest way to get home. They may say it will be easier on your family.

Don't sign a stipulated removal order without an attorney. A stipulated order may permanently waive your right to see an immigration judge, apply for asylum, request cancellation of removal, or pursue any other defense. Voluntary departure also carries serious penalties if you do not leave on time, and a removal order can bring bars on returning. You can ask for a hearing before a judge.

How do you find someone in ICE detention?

If a family member disappears into ICE custody, every hour counts. Here's how to find them.

The ICE Online Detainee Locator System lets you search by A-number and country of birth. If you don't have the A-number, you can search by first name, last name, country of birth, and date of birth. The system is brutally sensitive to spelling. If someone misspelled your relative's name during intake, try every variation you can think of.

The system does not track minors under 18. If a child was separated from their parents, contact the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) instead.

Other ways to locate someone:

• EOIR Case Status Hotline: 1-800-898-7180 (24/7, automated system)
• National Immigrant Justice Center: (312) 583-9721 (call collect from detention)
• ABA Detention Information Line: 202-442-3363

Tell the attorney everything you know: the person's full name, date of birth, A-number, when and where they were picked up, and what they were wearing. Time matters. Decisions happen fast in detention, and attorneys need to file motions before it's too late.

What is a family preparedness plan and why do you need one?

A family preparedness plan is a written document that tells a trusted person exactly what to do if you are detained. If you wait until ICE is at the door, it's too late to organize. This has to exist before anything happens.

Pick a trusted contact, such as a U.S. citizen relative or friend. Give them a copy of the plan and tell them where to find your important documents.

What the plan should include

• Your immigration attorney's name and phone number (memorize it too)
• Your A-number and any pending case numbers
• Who will care for your children if you are detained
• Your children's school and daycare contact information
• Emergency phone numbers for your local rapid response network
• Your country's consulate phone number
• Financial instructions: who can access your bank accounts and pay bills
• Location of important documents (passports, birth certificates, tax returns, medical records)

Protecting your children in California

California has specific forms parents can use to plan for their children's care:

The Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit (CAA) is a form the adult your child lives with fills out and signs. It needs no court, no notary and no parent signature. It lets that adult enroll your child in school and consent to school-related medical care, and a relative can generally consent to more (Judicial Council form). It does not give legal custody. The ILRC's Step-by-Step Family Preparedness Plan includes this form.

California's Family Preparedness Plan Act (AB 495) created a new option called joint guardianship. This lets parents formally nominate a backup caregiver to act as guardian if the parent is detained or deported. Unlike traditional guardianship, it does not suspend parental rights. When the parent can care for the child again, the parent can ask the court to end it (Attorney General bulletin). A family law or immigration attorney can explain the steps.

Form GC-211 (Nomination of Guardian) lets you officially name someone as your children's guardian. The court considers this nomination if a guardianship case is ever opened.

Put all of these documents in one binder. Tell your children and your trusted contact exactly where to find it.

How do ICE raids affect children?

Published research links a family member's detention or deportation to serious problems in children.

Research has found that children whose family members were detained or deported were more likely to report suicidal thoughts, alcohol use and aggression (JAMA Pediatrics, 2020). The study shows an association, not proof that the detention caused these outcomes.

The American Psychological Association has highlighted these harms. APA CEO Arthur C. Evans stated: "Psychological science is clear: detention, deportation, family separation, and the constant threat of such actions create chronic stress that increases anxiety, depression, trauma-related symptoms, and long-term health risks."

The effects ripple out past individual families. Schools have seen absences rise after enforcement operations (for example). Families avoid hospitals and clinics. Crime victims stop calling police.

Children don't have to directly witness a raid to be harmed by one. The constant fear of separation can itself cause lasting stress. For the millions of U.S.-citizen children who live with an undocumented family member, that fear is part of daily life.

This kind of harm is what immigration psychological evaluations can document. A licensed psychologist documents how trauma and fear affect a person, in a written report the attorney can file with the case.

What protections does California law provide?

California has several laws that limit how the state helps with immigration enforcement. These laws don't stop ICE from operating in California. Federal agents can still make arrests. But California law keeps state and local resources (police, databases, facilities) from being used to help federal immigration enforcement.

The California Values Act (SB 54)

California's landmark sanctuary law, signed in 2017. Under SB 54 (Government Code Sections 7284 through 7284.12), state and local police cannot:

• Ask about your immigration status
• Hold you in jail past your release date just so ICE can pick you up
• Share your nonpublic personal information (such as your home or work address) with ICE, except as the law allows
• Use personnel, money, or facilities to investigate or arrest people for immigration violations

Listed exceptions. People with certain convictions listed in California Government Code Section 7282.5 (including some serious or violent felonies and, within a time limit, certain misdemeanors that could have been charged as felonies) can still be turned over to ICE in some situations; whether one applies is a question for an attorney. For most people, though, local police in California cannot act as immigration agents. In 2019 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused the federal government's request to block SB 54, finding no conflict with federal law.

The Immigrant Worker Protection Act (AB 450)

Under AB 450, California employers cannot voluntarily let ICE into non-public areas of the workplace without a judicial warrant. Employers must also tell workers when ICE gives notice of an inspection of employment records.

The TRUST Act

Holding someone past their release date on an immigration hold is now barred by the Values Act. The TRUST Act (Government Code Sections 7282 and 7282.5), as amended by SB 54, covers when a local agency may respond to ICE requests to be notified of a release or to transfer a person, which it allows only in listed situations, such as certain serious or violent felony convictions (California Attorney General bulletin). Whether one applies depends on the person's record.

The TRUTH Act (AB 2792)

Before ICE interviews anyone held by a local California jail or police agency about civil immigration violations, the local agency must give that person a written consent form explaining the purpose of the interview, that it is voluntary, and that the person can refuse or ask to be interviewed only with their attorney present. The form must be available in several languages (California Attorney General bulletin).

Newer state laws (2025)

• School protections (California Education Code section 234.7, amended by AB 49 and AB 495): public school staff may not voluntarily let immigration officers into non-public areas of a school without a valid judicial warrant, judicial subpoena or court order, and, as far as practicable, may not give them information about a student or the student's family without one (California Attorney General).
• SB 98: school safety plans must include steps to tell parents, teachers and staff when the school confirms immigration enforcement on campus.
• AB 495 (Family Preparedness Plan Act) created joint guardianship so parents can nominate backup caregivers without losing parental rights.
• AB 1261 (2025) has the state, subject to available funding, pay nonprofit legal organizations or public defenders to give lawyers to immigrant youth in California.

State funding for legal defense

California funds free immigration legal services through nonprofits; the state's map shows the nearest one.

Are schools, churches, and hospitals still safe?

Not the way they used to be. That's a painful change. For many years, a federal policy kept immigration enforcement away from "sensitive" places like schools, hospitals, and churches (the last version). DHS rescinded it in 2025, and the guidance that replaced it leaves much more to officers' judgment.

Immigration agents have since been reported making arrests near schools, at courthouses and on church grounds.

Some courts have limited enforcement at the places of worship of religious groups that sued, with exceptions, and those orders protect only those groups' places of worship. Ask an attorney or your congregation's leaders what applies where you worship.

Some protections still hold everywhere. Plyler v. Doe (1982) guarantees the right to public education regardless of immigration status. HIPAA limits when doctors and hospitals can share your medical information, though it allows some disclosures to law enforcement (45 CFR 164.512(f)). EMTALA requires a hospital with an emergency department to give anyone who comes there a medical screening exam and, for an emergency condition, stabilizing treatment or an appropriate transfer (42 U.S.C. 1395dd). And ICE generally needs a judicial warrant, or the consent of someone with authority, to enter private, non-public areas of a building.

In California, Education Code section 234.7 limits immigration officers' access to the non-public areas of public schools. The reality is that no location is completely guaranteed safe anymore. Keep your Know Your Rights card with you everywhere you go.

Where can you get free legal help in California?

Save an attorney's name in your phone before you need it. Don't wait for an emergency to start looking.

National hotlines

California organizations

California rapid response networks

These are community-run hotlines that can send trained observers or attorneys to an active ICE operation. Save the number for your area in your phone now: the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice lists the networks by county, and the Los Angeles network's number is (888) 624-4752.

Know Your Rights cards

Print these, laminate them, and carry them at all times. Keep one by your front door. Put one in your glove compartment. The ACLU also offers downloadable phone lockscreen images so your rights are visible without unlocking your phone.

• ILRC Red Cards (many languages)
• NILC Know Your Rights Card (English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and more)
• ACLU Know Your Rights (English, Spanish, plus phone lockscreen graphics)
• CLINIC Know Your Rights Card (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Amharic, Tagalog)

Online legal directories

• AILA Immigration Lawyer Search, searchable by zip code, case type, and language
• National Immigration Legal Services Directory, free and low-cost legal help near you

Example cases, what people did right (and wrong) when ICE arrived

Three composite, illustrative cases below. They are not real people; they illustrate the general rules about administrative warrants, judicial warrants, the Fourth Amendment, and California's Values Act described above. Your own situation is a question for an attorney.

How can a psychological evaluation help if you are detained?

If you or a family member ends up in immigration proceedings, a psychological evaluation by a licensed psychologist can be a valuable part of the evidence in your case. Because these evaluations are built on clinical tools and diagnostic standards rather than personal narrative alone, attorneys commonly submit them to document a claim, though the weight any adjudicator gives a report is always their decision.

Here's how evaluations help across different case types:

Asylum claims: The evaluation documents symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety and whether they are consistent with the persecution you describe. It can also explain how trauma can affect memory, such as trouble telling the story in order or remembering exact dates. Whether the account is credible is for the judge.

Hardship waivers (I-601/I-601A): These cases require proving that a U.S. citizen or permanent resident family member would suffer "extreme hardship" if you were refused admission. The evaluation documents the family member's mental health conditions and how separation or relocation could affect them. Letters from family can describe the emotional pain. A clinical evaluation with standardized testing scores and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) diagnoses documents that impact in a form the attorney can file with the waiver.

Cancellation of removal: The legal standard here is "exceptional and extremely unusual hardship" to a qualifying U.S. citizen or permanent resident relative. A thorough evaluation can document the psychological and developmental impact on children and the mental health of a spouse or parent; whether that meets the standard is for the judge.

VAWA, U-visa, and T-visa cases: These evaluations document the psychological effects of domestic violence, criminal victimization, or human trafficking. Whether the evidence meets the legal standard is for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to decide.

The evaluation uses standardized instruments like the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). These produce standardized scores with published norms, which a personal letter cannot provide. The evaluator provides DSM-5-TR diagnoses with criteria-by-criteria justification, a full psychosocial history, and the clinical findings that relate to the questions your case raises; how they fit the legal standard is your attorney's argument.

Frequently asked questions