A federal judge ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this week to stop using the so-called 'Knock and Talk' tactics, a method for arresting immigrants in which field agents enter a property without a judicial warrant or consent with the purpose of arresting undocumented immigrants.
U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II said the practice amounts to "knock-and-arrest" and violates Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. These protections, he noted, include the curtilage around people's homes, such as yards and porches that are part of the property. By entering this curtilage armed with only an administrative arrest warrant — not a judicial one — immigration officers are violating these protections.
