“Cheese Sandwich” Scenario & Arrest Law
Let’s say federal officers are arresting “illegal alien A” and a local senator storms in, demanding to see the warrant. The officers wave a literal cheese sandwich at him and say, “Here—here’s your warrant!” Meanwhile, they proceed to arrest “illegal alien A”, who actually is named in the real warrant. How does the law view that?
Who has the right to the warrant?
Only the person named in the warrant (here, “illegal alien A”) has the legal right to:
Be informed of the existence of a warrant and the offense, and
See the physical warrant when requested
A random bystander—even a senator—has no legal standing to demand or view it .
Lying to the senator / waving a cheese sandwich
The warrant belongs to Illegal alien A; it doesn’t need to be shown to anyone else.
Officers aren’t obliged to satisfy the senator’s demand, nor validate his demand with anything real.
Waving a cheese sandwich instead of a warrant is not legally required or disallowed—but it plays no role in complying with the law.
Could that be illegal?
Officers can deceive bystanders — but twisting the truth about having a warrant or to manipulate consent can lead to Fourth Amendment violations (e.g., Bumper v. North Carolina, Hadley v. Williams)
Here, they aren’t lying to person A—they’re simply not responding to the senator’s non-existent legal right.
Is there any potential harm?
The arrest itself is lawful so long as the real warrant is valid and person A is properly informed .
Deceiving the senator doesn’t void the arrest or its legality.
However, if they had used the sandwich trick to enter a home or gain consent, that could trigger suppression of evidence—especially if it was used to bypass legal protections .