The Maine ACLU announced today that it has filed “five administrative claims against the federal government on behalf of people who suffered abuse at the hands of federal immigration agents.” The announcement also says that these filings are part of a nationwide effort by the ACLU that includes 54 claims across 17 states and Washington, DC. The five Maine claims were filed on behalf of two people and one family. All parties suffered abuse from federal agents. They were filed with DOJ, CBP and ICE.
The announcement from MaineACLU says that in one instance, masked agents took a man from his Maine home and detained him in Massachusetts for 43 days with no rationale for doing so. In the second instance, a man was racially profiled violently arrested and unlawfully detained after agent smashed his car window. In the third instance, ICE agents violently broke a man’s driver’s side window, spraying broken glass over the man and his family. ICE unlawfully detained him for three weeks after violently draggng him out of his vehicle.
As stated previously, this claims are part of a nationwide fight against the Trump administration’s illegal conduct. As such these claims were filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). According to the ACLU announcement, FTCA is one of the few legal tools available to the public to gain compensation for “wrongdoing” by employees of the government.
The MaineACLU announcement continues: “These are not isolaed incidents. Since the beginning of President Trump’s second term, federal immigration agents have terriorized communities while showing a blatant disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law. Each of the 54 FTCA claims tells the story of someone who was brutalized by immigration agents. Together, they show a disturbing pattern of civil rights violations and abuses affecting immigrants, US citizens, lawful permanent residents,workers, familliles and people exerciseing their constitutional rights.”
“A recent ACLU report documenting more than 1,200 immigration enforcement incidents across eight states found over 400 instances of alleged misconduct, including excessive force, racial profiling, intimidation, and abuse. These civil rights violations are not rare. They are systemic, and they are the result of deliberate decisions made within the Department of Homeland Security – and we are demanding accountability.”