White Collar & Government Investigations Blog

The new administration has recently shown an increased effort to beef up enforcement of existing laws. This recent increase in immigration enforcement activity provides a good opportunity to revisit the principles of the Fourth Amendment. Every person that is physically located in the United States or any of its territories, no matter citizenship status, has due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The recent actions by federal agents at the workplace in the last few days have raised questions about the scope of authority of federal agents to search, seize and arrest at work, at a school or place of worship. While at the border, agents have considerably more latitude with respect to due process and the freedom to detain and conduct warrantless searches. But within the country, basic and fundamental Fourth Amendment principles apply, even in the immigration context.