Know Your Rights

🌐

English Español

Know Your Rights

Your rights during encounters with ICE and CBP, based on 2025 guidance and current legal standards.

Staying calm and knowing exactly what you can refuse is one of the strongest protections you have. These rights apply to everyone in the United States: citizens, visa holders, undocumented people, minors and adults.

1. Your Right to Remain Silent

• You do **not** have to answer questions about your immigration status, where you were born, or how you entered the country.
• You can say: “I am choosing to remain silent.”

2. Right to Refuse Searches

ICE **cannot** search you, your phone, your bags, or your home without one of the following:

• Your **consent**, or
• A **judicial warrant** signed by a judge (NOT an ICE warrant).

If they show paperwork, look for:

• “Signed by: **Judge**” → LEGITIMATE
• “ICE” or “DHS” anywhere as the signer → **NOT** a judicial warrant

You may say: “I do not consent to a search.”

3. Rights at Your Home

ICE needs a **judicial warrant** to enter your home without permission.

• You do **not** need to open the door.
• Speak through the door or a window.
• Ask them to slip any warrant under the door.
• If it is not signed by a judge, you do not have to let them in.

4. Rights in Public or On the Street

• You have the right to **remain silent**.
• You do not have to show ID unless you are driving.
• You do not have to answer questions about where you’re from.

If you are detained:

• Ask: “Am I free to leave?”

If they say “yes,” calmly walk away.

5. Rights in Your Car

• You must show your **driver’s license** if you were pulled over while driving.
• You do **not** need to answer immigration questions.
• You may refuse consent to vehicle searches.

Say: “I do not consent to a search.”

6. Rights at Work

ICE needs either:

• Your employer’s consent, or
• A judicial warrant

to enter non-public areas of the workplace.

You still have the same rights:

• You may remain silent.
• You may not be required to show immigration documents.
• You can ask if you are free to leave.

7. What To Do If You Are Arrested

You have the right to:

• A **lawyer**
• Make a **phone call**
• Remain **silent**
• **Not** sign anything without legal advice

Signing ICE paperwork can lead to deportation: especially “voluntary departure.” You may say: “I want to speak to a lawyer before signing anything.”

8. Recording ICE

You have the right to **record ICE agents** in public as long as:

• You do not interfere
• You do not enter a restricted area
• You stay a safe distance away

If an agent tells you to stop recording:

• Calmly state: “Recording is my First Amendment right. I am not interfering.”

9. What To Write Down During an Incident

If it is safe:

• Time and location
• Vehicle plates
• Uniform details
• Agent names (if visible)
• What was said
• Whether they claimed to have a warrant
• If they showed paperwork

To submit a report, see: How to Report an Incident

10. Your Rights Do *Not* Depend on Your Immigration Status

Everyone in the U.S.: undocumented, resident, citizen, asylum seeker, student, tourist: has:

• The right to remain silent
• The right to refuse consent to searches
• The right to legal counsel
• Constitutional protections

See Also

• Staying Safe Around ICE
• Preparation Guide
• Emergency Planning
• Finding Legal Support

By situation

Deeper guides for each place this can happen:

• Your Rights at Your Door · Your Rights on the Street · Your Rights in Your Car · Your Rights at Work · Courthouses, Schools and Hospitals
• Protest Rights · If You Witness a Raid
• If You Are Detained · If a Loved One Is Detained · Family Preparedness Plan · Red Cards and Rights Cards
• Finding an Immigration Lawyer · Emergency Hotlines and Rapid Response

Or browse everything: ICE List:Essential information.