By Erick Widman
If U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shows up at your home in Portland, you have rights. The most important rights you have are the ones you can use calmly, in the first 60 seconds, before the front door is opened.
This guide is a step-by-step walkthrough for what to do if ICE knocks. It is written for the resident of the home. Share it with anyone in your household who might be the one to answer the door, including teenagers and adult children. Keep a printed copy on the fridge. The single biggest predictor of a good outcome is that everyone in the home knows the script before it ever happens.
The most important rule: don’t open the door
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects you from warrantless searches of your home. That protection applies to everyone physically present in the United States, regardless of immigration status.
ICE officers cannot lawfully enter your home without one of two things:
- A judicial warrant signed by a judge or magistrate. This is the only document that authorizes ICE to enter your home over your objection.
- Your voluntary consent. Once you open the door and step aside, you have given consent. Once you give consent, you cannot un-give it.
ICE officers most often arrive with a different document: an ICE administrative warrant, also called a Form I-200 or Form I-205. An administrative warrant is not signed by a judge. It is signed by an ICE supervisor. It does not authorize entry into your home.
The single sentence that protects your home is:
“I do not consent to your entry. Please slide the warrant under the door.”
Say it through the closed door. Do not open the door to look at the document.
How to tell a real judicial warrant from an ICE administrative warrant
If a document is slipped under the door, look for these features.
A judicial warrant has:
- A caption at the top reading “United States District Court” or a state court name.
- A judge’s or magistrate’s signature on the line.
- A specific address to be searched.
- A specific person, item, or category of evidence to be found.
An ICE administrative warrant (Form I-200 or I-205) has:
- “Department of Homeland Security” at the top.
- “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement” below that.
- A signature from an ICE official, usually a deportation officer or supervisor.
- Standard language about “removal” or “arrest of alien.”
If the warrant is administrative, you do not have to open the door. INA § 287(a) and the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Fourth Amendment require a judicial warrant for non-consensual entry into a home. ICE knows this. Officers may still try to talk you into opening the door. Your job is to politely refuse.
The full 60-second script
If ICE knocks, take a breath. Walk to the door but do not open it. Then say, in this order:
- “Who is there and what do you want?”
- “I do not consent to your entry.”
- “If you have a warrant signed by a judge, please slide it under the door.”
- “I am exercising my right to remain silent. I will not answer questions. I want to speak to a lawyer.”
Do not lie. Do not open the door. Do not produce documents. Do not run.
If officers force entry anyway, do not physically resist. Step back, raise your hands, repeat the silent and lawyer requests, and let them search. Anything they find without lawful authority can usually be suppressed later. Anything you say can be used against you.
What to do if you are stopped outside the home
If ICE approaches you on the street, in your car, at work, or in a public place, the rules are different but the principles are the same.
- You have the right to remain silent. You do not have to answer questions about where you were born, how you entered the United States, or your immigration status.
- You do not have to consent to a search of your person, your bag, or your car unless the officer has probable cause or a warrant.
- You do not have to sign anything without a lawyer. ICE officers sometimes present a Stipulated Order of Removal (Form I-851 or I-826) and ask you to sign. Do not sign. Signing waives your right to a hearing.
- Ask whether you are free to leave. If yes, walk away calmly. If no, you are detained, and the right to silence and the right to a lawyer apply with full force.
If a family member is arrested
If ICE detains someone in your household:
- Write down everything you can remember within the first hour. Date, time, who knocked, what they said, what documents they showed, the names and badge numbers of every officer if you saw them, the vehicle license plates if visible.
- Do not destroy anything. No documents, no phones, no electronics.
- Call an immigration attorney immediately. The first 24 to 48 hours are the most important window for filing a stay request, identifying the detention facility, and beginning the bond process.
- Use the ICE Online Detainee Locator System (locator.ice.gov) with the detainee’s A-number or full name and country of birth to find which facility they have been transferred to. People arrested in Portland are often transferred to the Tacoma Northwest ICE Processing Center.
- Do not let anyone in the household answer ICE follow-up questions. ICE will sometimes return the next day or call to “clarify.” Decline politely and refer all questions to your attorney.
What about ruses?
ICE officers in Portland and elsewhere have been documented using ruses to gain consent to enter homes: claiming to be police investigating a crime, claiming to be looking for a different person, or claiming to need to come in for a brief follow-up. The Fourth Amendment analysis does not change. Without a judicial warrant, ICE cannot lawfully enter your home without consent, even if officers misrepresent their purpose.
If you are unsure whether a person at your door is local police or ICE, the script still works. Local police investigating a real crime will usually have a judicial warrant or an emergency. They can also show identification through the door. Ask. If the person at the door cannot or will not produce a judicial warrant, you do not have to open the door.
What about your kids’ school, your workplace, your church?
Schools, hospitals, churches, and similar locations have historically been treated as sensitive locations by ICE. The legal protection at sensitive locations is policy-based and has been narrowed and broadened by different administrations over the years. As of 2026, do not assume that any location is “safe” from ICE without checking the current policy. Talk to school administrators about their visitor protocol. Talk to HR about whether your workplace has a written ICE response plan.
The Fourth Amendment still applies in those buildings. Without a judicial warrant signed by a judge, ICE cannot enter non-public areas of a workplace, school, or place of worship without consent.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Can ICE enter my home if my landlord lets them in?
A landlord cannot consent to a search of a tenant’s living space. The tenant’s consent is required.
Q. Can ICE enter my home if my roommate lets them in?
A roommate can consent to entry into common areas (the living room, the kitchen) but generally not into another person’s bedroom unless the roommate has authority over that bedroom too. Best practice: keep your bedroom door locked and trust that the Fourth Amendment will be evaluated later.
Q. Should I keep my immigration documents at home?
Keep originals in a secure place. Keep clear photocopies of every important document (passport, work authorization card, green card, prior approval notices) with a trusted family member or attorney outside the home, so you have backup access if your home is searched and items are taken.
Q. What is a “Know Your Rights” card?
A laminated card you can hand to officers that asserts your right to remain silent and your right to a lawyer. They are widely distributed by the ACLU and other immigrant-rights organizations. Carry one in your wallet. It does not replace the script above, but it backstops you if you are too nervous to speak.
Q. What if I have a U.S. citizen child or spouse?
Family relationships do not change ICE’s authority to enter or arrest. They do, however, become relevant later in the case as the basis for cancellation of removal, hardship waivers, or family-based petitions. Save documentation of those relationships now.
Q. What if I have a final order of removal?
A prior removal order makes your situation more urgent. ICE can act on a final order without going back to court. If you have a final order, you should already be working with an attorney on a motion to reopen, a stay request, or a U.S. citizen-spouse-based path. If you are not, call one today.
Make a plan today, not tomorrow
The single most useful thing a household can do is have a written plan before ICE knocks. The plan should include:
- The script every adult and teenager in the home will say at the door.
- The name and phone number of an immigration attorney.
- The name and phone number of an emergency contact who is not in the home.
- A short power-of-attorney for any minor children, signed and notarized, naming a trusted adult to make decisions if both parents are detained.
- Photocopies of every important document, stored outside the home.
Our office helps Portland-area families prepare these plans. If you would like help building one for your household, schedule a consultation.
This post is for informational purposes and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The legal framework around ICE enforcement and sensitive locations changes with each administration. Confirm any policy detail against current ICE guidance and recent court rulings before you act.
