Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - A newly released directive from ICE calls on agents to enter homes, and doing so without a warrant. A local immigration attorney says while she hasn't heard about an incident in WNY, this concerns her and her clients.
Rosanna Berardi of Berardi Immigration Law says the memo was issued in May 2025, but says she has not seen any such incidents here. "It may have happened already in Western New York. We just don't know about it, but we've seen it play out more on the national level, in Minnesota and in perhaps other areas that we're just not aware of yet," says Berardi.
Berardi has constitutional concerns. "It flies in the face of the Fourth Amendment, which protects anyone in the United States against unreasonable search and seizure," notes Berardi. "If ICE has a judicial warrant that is signed off by an impartial judge, not an immigration judge, then they can enter anyone's home in the United States, but these administrative warrants do not allow for that. But ICE has interpreted it differently. So it's a huge deal to ignore a constitutional amendment, as well as very long established case law that says your home is your kingdom and your sanctuary, and you should not have people busting down your door without the proper judicial process."
What has she told her clients? She admits that's a tough issue. "We are definitely telling our clients about the national trends that we're seeing. We are asking them to make an educated decision as to whether they want to reschedule or postpone any interviews, and if they do go forward, we make sure they have all their documentation," explains Berardi. She adds it is a very murky and fluid situation, and there's a lot of inconsistencies across the country, so it's hard to give people good advice. "But as you know, our ethical obligation requires we advise them of all their risks, and then they ultimately make the decision," adds Berardi.
Berardi anticipates legal challenges. "It may not be locally, but I think we're going to see legal challenges probably come out of something through the state of Minnesota. It'll work its way up to the courts, I would guess it's going to be placed on the US Supreme Court's emergency docket," predicts Berardi.