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Information is outdated.
https://www.ice.gov/about-ice/ero/protected-areas
Protected Areas and Courthouse Arrests
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This page contains information that is outdated. It is being revised in accordance with new policy guidance as of Jan. 21, 2025.
https://www.ice.gov/about-ice/ero/protected-areas
Read the old outdated rules.
Sheesh…..
Protected Areas Enforcement Actions
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a memorandum — Guidelines for Enforcement Actions In or Near Protected Areas — instructing officers to refrain from taking enforcement actions at or near locations or protected areas in October 2021. This policy is part of DHS’s effort to avoid restricting people’s access to essential services or engagement in essential activities.
Protected Areas
Protected areas are locations that provide essential services or activities. When determining if a location is a protected area, DHS considers the activities that take place there, the importance of those activities to the well-being of people and the communities of which they are a part and the impact an enforcement action would have on people’s willingness to be in the protected area and receive or engage in the essential services or activities that occur there. It is a determination that requires the exercise of judgment.
Examples of protected areas include, but are not limited to:
Schools
Medical or mental healthcare facilities
Places of worship or religious studies
Places where children gather
Social services establishments
Places where disaster or emergency response/relief is provided
Places where funerals, graveside ceremonies, rosaries, weddings, or other religious or civil ceremonies or observances occur
Places where there are ongoing parades, demonstrations, or rallies
Enforcement Actions Within the Scope of the Protected Areas Memorandum
Enforcement actions that are within the scope of this guidance include, but are not limited to, such actions as arrests, civil apprehensions, searches, inspections, seizures, the service of charging documents or subpoenas, interviews and immigration enforcement surveillance.
Exceptions and Limitations on Scope
There might be limited circumstances under which an enforcement action needs to be taken in or near a protected area. The following are some examples of such limited circumstances:
The enforcement action involves a national security threat
There is an imminent risk of death, violence, or physical harm to a person
The enforcement action involves the hot pursuit of an individual who poses a public safety threat
The enforcement action involves the hot pursuit of a personally observed border crosser
There is an imminent risk that evidence material to a criminal case will be destroyed
A safe alternative location — a location deemed safe for DHS personnel, the subject of the enforcement action, and the public — does not exist
The memorandum does not limit ICE’s or employee’s statutory authority, and DHS does not tolerate violations of law in or near a protected area.
Absent exigent circumstances, DHS officers and agents must seek prior approval from their agency’s headquarters or an authorized delegate before taking an enforcement action in or near a protected area. To the fullest extent possible, any enforcement actions in or near a protected area should be taken in a non-public area, outside of public view, and to eliminate or minimize the chance that the enforcement action will prevent people from accessing the protected area.
If DHS officers and agents take enforcement actions that are believed to be in violation of the protected areas policy, a complaint may be filed through one of the following channels:
ICE
(888) 351-4024
ERO Contact Form
Website
CBP
(877) 227-5511
Website
Office of the Inspector General
(800) 323-8603
Website
DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
(866) 644-8360
CRCLCompliance@hq.dhs.gov