Know Your Rights
If ICE Comes to Your Work
Understand your rights when ICE appears at your workplace. Know where they can and cannot go.
Where ICE can go
- Public areas (no permission needed):
- Lobbies, dining rooms, and retail spaces. Entry alone does not give ICE authority to detain, search, or arrest anyone. Lobbies, parking lots, customer areas
- Private areas (permission required):
- Without a court warrant, ICE needs permission from the owner or someone who controls the area to enter. California employers and their agents cannot voluntarily give that permission. Offices, warehouses, employee-only areas
Your rights at work
All workers can:
- Remain silent.
- Refuse consent to a search.
- Stand together in the center of the room. Refuse to separate by immigration status. ICE uses this tactic to isolate individuals—protect each other.
If ICE Approaches You
DO NOT
- Run, resist, or lie about your identity
- Sign any documents without an attorney
DO
- Stay calm and remember your rights
- Ask if you are free to leave
Say this
"I wish to remain silent. I do not consent to a search. Am I free to go?"
Employer Responsibilities
In California, your employer has rights and responsibilities during an ICE visit:
- Ask for Warrant
- Can ask to see a court warrant
- Deny Access
- Must not voluntarily allow entry to non-public areas without a court warrant
- Call Attorney
- Can contact company lawyer before cooperating
- Notify Workers
- Can inform employees of their rights