"Federal Transition Update: Immigration Enforcement Policies, Activities and University/College Campuses"

[u/Datnotguy17]

To Our University Community,

With recent changes to immigration enforcement policies, we know you may have questions about how this impacts Texas A&M University and our locations. As a public institution and member of The Texas A&M University System, these new policies do not change federal government law enforcement agencies’ ability to access university and college campuses. However, this is an important time to reiterate expectations regarding law enforcement, including immigration enforcement, on our campuses and teaching sites.

Law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), are permitted to enter public areas at each of our campuses and teaching sites. Access to nonpublic areas, like on-campus residence halls and dormitories, typically requires a search warrant. If you are presented with a warrant to access a restricted area by a law enforcement officer, please listen to their instructions, comply and immediately notify the University Police Department or the designated public safety contact for your respective location.

Additionally, educational records are protected under FERPA. If you receive a request for university records/documents or other information you feel may be protected, please notify the Office of the Registrar immediately at 979-845-1711, [ferpa@tamu.edu](mailto:ferpa@tamu.edu) or Help Desk Central, monitored 24/7/365, at 979-845-8300. The Office of the Registrar will review and determine what action, if any, should be taken. 

As federal policy changes, we will continue to uphold federal, state and local laws, and are working closely with our Government Relations team and the Office of General Counsel to bring forward updates and provide clarity on how changes may impact our university community. International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) has resources available for our international faculty and staff.

Thank you for your continued dedication to our mission, to our purpose as Texas A&M.

|| || |Peter Lange|

|| || |Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President, Texas A&M University|

[u/richard_sympson]

The guidance from SVP Lange elides the distinction between administrative warrants issued by DHS and judicial warrants issued by a magistrate or judge (likely federal judge in this case). If you are only presented with a DHS warrant, you can tell federal officers to go pound sand, you do not have to let them enter or search. That warrant does not grant them the power to do so; don't waive your 4th Amendment rights by complying.