Judicial Watch Sues Homeland Security for Records on Criminal Aliens Using Arrest Warrants, Removal Orders as Legal ID

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for records on migrants who entered the United States from 2020 – 2025, using arrest warrants and removal orders as proof of identification (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:25-cv-04414)).

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Distrcit Court for the District of Columbia after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component of Homeland Security, failed to comply with a February 26, 2025, FOIA request for:

Data reflecting the number of persons entering the United States from 2020 through 2025 who used any of the following documents as proof of identification, with the data broken out by category:

• • Warrant for Arrest of Alien,
  • Warrant of Removal/Deportation,
  • Order of Removal on Recognizance,
  • Order of Supervision,
  • Notice to Appear,
  • Arrival and Departure Form,
  • and/or Alien Booking Record.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement forwarded Judicial Watch’s request to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which forwarded it to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), but no records have been forthcoming. Judicial Watch filed an identical FOIA request with the Transportation and Safety Administration (TSA), which has also failed to comply.

In January 2022, the Biden administration admitted that the Transportation and Safety Administration was allowing illegal immigrants to use arrest warrants as an alternative form of identification to board commercial airplanes. 

In a January 31, 2022, letter to Transportation and Safety Administration Administrator David Pekoske, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) stated, “The point of an arrest warrant is for police to actively seek out and apprehend criminals. However, you have now confirmed that illegal aliens may present arrest warrants to federal officials to board commercial aircrafts.” 

“The Biden administration compounded the dangers of their open-border lawlessness by allowing the very warrants that should have gotten criminal aliens detained or deported to be used as ID to board commercial aircraft,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.  

In November 2025, Judicial Watch sued Evanston, IL, Mayor Daniel Biss for records related to obstruction of federal immigration enforcement, as well as Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs for records regarding her office reportedly ordering state police and the National Guard to withhold cooperation from federal immigration enforcement authorities.

 Judicial Watch recently pointed out that in just two states with “sanctuary” policies, nearly 9,000 criminal aliens were released from jails and prisons since January 20, defying Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers to deport them.

In October 2025, Judicial Watch reported on a Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF), established by President Trump on the day of his inauguration to tackle a pandemic of transnational organized crime created by the Biden administration’s “disgraceful” open border policies, had made thousands of arrests and seized over 1,000 illegal firearms, 91 tons of drugs and $3 million in currency.

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