ICE Sensitive Locations Policy: Rescission, Worship, Courthouses

The ICE sensitive locations policy, the internal rule that used to keep immigration agents away from schools, hospitals, churches, and similar community spaces, was rescinded on January 20, 2025. There is no longer a department-wide prohibition on enforcement at these places. Field-level supervisors now decide case by case whether agents will act at a school, a hospital, a shelter, or another community setting. One significant carve-out remains: a federal court order requires ICE to continue following the old restrictions at roughly 1,400 houses of worship across 36 states.¹

What Changed in January 2025

A DHS memorandum issued on January 20, 2025 rescinded the 2021 “Guidelines for Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas” that former Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had put in place. The new memo stated that “it is not necessary for the head of the agency to create bright line rules regarding where our immigration laws are permitted to be enforced” and directed officers to use enforcement discretion and “a healthy dose of common sense.”²

Eleven days later, on January 31, 2025, the ICE Director issued a follow-up memo assigning Assistant Field Office Directors and Assistant Special Agents in Charge the authority to make case-by-case decisions about whether, where, and when to conduct enforcement near a protected area.¹ The concept of a “sensitive location” still exists as a factor agents weigh, but it is no longer a categorical bar.

The Locations the Old Rule Covered

The 2021 policy still matters for two reasons. It is the framework federal courts have ordered ICE to keep following at certain houses of worship, and it remains the reference point community groups use when pushing back on enforcement. The Mayorkas memo identified these categories of protected areas, and said the list was not exhaustive:³

Schools, from preschool through college and vocational programs.
Medical facilities, including hospitals, clinics, urgent care, vaccination or testing sites, and community health centers.
Places of worship, including churches, synagogues, mosques, and temporary religious gathering sites.
Social services locations such as food banks, homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, crisis centers, and drug or alcohol treatment facilities.
Places where children gather, including playgrounds, recreation centers, childcare and foster care facilities, and school bus stops.
Funerals, weddings, and other religious or civil ceremonies.
Public demonstrations such as marches, rallies, and parades.⁴

Under that policy, agents were generally prohibited from arrests, immigration-related interviews, searches, and surveillance at these sites, whether in plainclothes or uniform. The restrictions covered the premises and the immediate surrounding area, though no version of the memo defined a specific distance.²

Places of Worship Are Still Protected by Court Order

As of March 2025, ICE is operating under a federal court order that covers roughly 1,400 places of worship across 36 states. The order blocks ICE from applying the January 20, 2025 DHS memo and the January 31, 2025 ICE memo at those locations unless agents are acting on an administrative or judicial warrant.¹

At those specific houses of worship, agents must still follow the 2021 Mayorkas guidelines. Enforcement actions should be avoided to the fullest extent possible. Agents need prior approval from ICE headquarters before acting without a warrant. Any enforcement that does happen must take place in non-public areas so people are not deterred from attending services.¹ In February 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction in New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America v. Department of Homeland Security, further blocking enforcement at houses of worship tied to that case.

These orders are narrowly written. They protect the specific plaintiffs and named locations in each lawsuit, not every church, synagogue, or mosque in the country. If a particular house of worship is not covered by an active order, the current case-by-case framework applies there.

Courthouses Follow a Separate Rule

Courthouses are governed by their own ICE directive, not the broader protected areas framework. Under interim guidance issued January 21, 2025, agents may conduct immigration enforcement at or near a courthouse when they have credible information that a targeted individual is or will be there, as long as local law does not prohibit it.¹

Before acting, agents must coordinate with the local ICE Office of the Principal Legal Advisor to check for jurisdiction-specific legal limits. Operationally, they are told to work in non-public areas of the courthouse whenever possible, coordinate with court security, use non-public entrances and exits, and act discreetly to minimize impact on proceedings.¹

Agents are told to generally avoid courthouse areas dedicated entirely to non-criminal proceedings, such as family court or small claims court. Enforcement in those settings requires advance approval from a Field Office Director, Special Agent in Charge, or designee. The courthouse directive does not apply to criminal immigration enforcement inside courthouses.¹

When Agents Can Act Anywhere

Both the rescinded 2021 policy and the current framework treat certain emergencies as overriding location entirely:

Imminent risk of death or serious physical harm to any person.
National security threats such as suspected terrorism or espionage.
Hot pursuit of a suspect who flees into a protected location.
Credible risk that evidence in a criminal investigation will be destroyed if agents delay.

Under the 2021 policy, non-emergency enforcement at a protected area required written approval from a Field Office Director or Special Agent in Charge, with a justification for why the action could not happen somewhere else.¹ The current framework hands that judgment to Assistant Field Office Directors and Assistant Special Agents in Charge, case by case.

The Policy Does Not Give You Legal Rights

This is where expectations often collide with reality. Every version of the policy, from 2011 through today, carries the same disclaimer: it “is not intended to, does not, and may not be relied upon to create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law by any party in any administrative, civil, or criminal matter.”²

A violation of the policy cannot be used to suppress evidence in immigration court. It does not give anyone standing to sue the government for damages. The policy is internal management guidance about how agents should exercise discretion, and if an agent ignores it, the consequences run through internal discipline rather than the courts. The court orders protecting specific houses of worship are a separate matter, grounded in constitutional religious liberty claims rather than in the policy itself.

How to Report an Enforcement Action

If you witness or experience an enforcement action at a location you believe should have been protected, two channels handle these reports. The ICE Office of Professional Responsibility investigates allegations of employee misconduct, including situations where agents may have ignored policy or operational directives.⁵

The DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties accepts complaints through an online portal, a fillable PDF form, email, fax, and postal mail. The online portal generates a confirmation number and routes your report straight to review staff.⁶ Whichever channel you use, include the date, time, and exact location, a clear account of what happened, and the names or badge numbers of any agents you were able to identify.

A complaint can trigger internal discipline or retraining, but it will not undo an arrest or stop a removal proceeding. If you or someone you know is facing an enforcement action at a sensitive location and has an active immigration case, talking to an immigration attorney about the specific facts will do more than a complaint on its own.

1
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Protected Areas and Courthouse Arrests
2
U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas
3
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Guidelines for Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas
4
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Enforcement Actions at or Focused on Sensitive Locations
5
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Office of Professional Responsibility
6
U.S. Department of Homeland Security. File a Civil Rights Complaint