Blumenthal Holds Mullin Nomination Hearing Promise that He Will Overturn ICE Policy Allowing Agents to Forcibly Enter Homes Without a Judicial Warrant

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote newly sworn in Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin seeking confirmation that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has rescinded a secret U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy permitting agents to circumvent the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment and enter Americans’ homes without a standard judicial warrant.
Under questioning by Blumenthal during his nomination hearing, Mullin stated: “a judicial warrant will be used to go into houses, into place of businesses unless we are pursuing someone that enters in that place.”
Today, Blumenthal wrote to Mullin:“Given these representations and your recent swearing in as Secretary, I write to request confirmation that you have officially rescinded the memorandum issued by Acting ICE Director Lyons regarding the use of administrative warrants to enter private property, as well as any other guidance to ICE or CBP personnel that instructs them to enter private property without a judicial warrant.”
As Ranking Member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Blumenthal has led an investigation into DHS’s abuses. In January, anonymous whistleblowersdisclosed a policy memowritten by Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons authorizing federal immigration agents to enter American homes without a judicial warrant in order to effectuate civil immigration arrests.
In February, Blumenthal hosted a bicameral public forum on constitutional violations and abuses by ICE. The forum featured testimony from Ryan Schwank, a whistleblower whospoke publicly for the first timeabout his experience as an Instructor for the incoming “surge” of new ICE recruits at the ICE Academy at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (“FLETC”) in Glynco, Georgia. Teyana Gibson Brown, a U.S. citizen and resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, also testified about ICE agents forcefully entering her home without a judicial warrant, breaking down her door and pointing guns at her family. Stevan Bunnell, the General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017, testified as well.
The full text of Blumenthal’s letter isavailable hereand copied below.
Dear Secretary Mullin,
I write regarding your testimony during your confirmation hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs concerning a May 12, 2025 policy memorandum from Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons. As discussed during that hearing, Director Lyons issued a memorandum that purports to authorize ICE immigration officers to enter private property to arrest and detain aliens subject to a final order of removal relying only on a non-judicial, administrative warrant. In response to my question regarding whether you would disavow this policy if you were confirmed as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, you stated: “a judicial warrant will be used to go into houses, into place of businesses unless we are pursuing someone that enters in that place.”[1]Additionally, in response to a question for the record that I submitted to you following the hearing about whether you would rescind the policy, you stated: “If confirmed, I will review existing policies and ensure the Department’s guidance and practices are consistent with the Constitution and applicable law regarding warrants.”[2]
Given these representations and your recent swearing in as Secretary, I write to request confirmation that you have officially rescinded the memorandum issued by Acting ICE Director Lyons regarding the use of administrative warrants to enter private property, as well as any other guidance to ICE or CBP personnel that instructs them to enter private property without a judicial warrant.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
-30-
[1]Hearing on Nomination of the Honorable Markwayne Mullin to be Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, S. Comm. On Homeland Sec. and Governmental Affairs, 119th Cong. (March 18, 2026) (Testimony of Markwayne Mullin).
[2]Hearing on Nomination of the Honorable Markwayne Mullin to be Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, S. Comm. On Homeland Sec. and Governmental Affairs, 119th Cong. (March 18, 2026) (Question for the Record for Markwayne Mullin from Senator Richard Blumenthal).