It’s unfortunate that an article like this is needed for this site about life at City Walk, but here we are. On Friday afternoon, Jan 9, ICE tried to enter The Pointe, but was turned away by its staff.
Here’s a good guide by the ACLU about our rights with respect to ICE or other law enforcement. The parts that are relevant to ICE trying to enter our building or our units can be summarized as follows:
- The only two cases where we have to let them in are:
- They have a search warrant signed by a judge that correctly specifies the address.
- They have an arrest warrant signed by a judge for someone correctly named by name, who either lives here or who they believe is here at the time.
- The key to both of the above cases is “signed by a judge.” If all they have is an “Administrative warrant” not signed by a judge, we don’t have to let them in.
- Here’s a good guide for distinguishing legitimate judicial warrants from administrative warrants.
- You don’t even have to open your door to ICE. You can ask them to show you their warrant at your peephole or slide it under the door.
- Opening the door and stepping aside means that you’ve legally given them permission to enter, so try not to even come close to doing any part of that.
- If they don’t present a legitimate search or arrest warrant signed by a judge, tell them, “I do NOT give you permission to enter.”
The management company staff will be following these guidelines, as far as I know. They won’t be letting ICE into the building unless they have a legitimate judicial warrant signed by a judge, but we’re publishing the guidelines here for the residents in case ICE somehow gets past the front lobby.