Maine ACLU says immigrants are seeking more than $5M from feds over arrests, detentions
Maine immigrants who have been subjected to arrest and detention this year have notified the federal government of their intent to sue immigration enforcement agencies for more than $5 million.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine sent the federal government five notices on behalf of these clients, including one family and two individuals. The claims were addressed to the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to a statement from the organization.
This is the first step in pursuing legal action under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which generally gives the government six months to respond before a lawsuit can be filed in federal court.
The Maine filings were part of a coordinated effort by ACLU chapters all over the country. A total of 54 claims have been filed in 17 states and the District of Columbia, according to the ACLU.
The ACLU of Maine declined to share copies of the notices Wednesday, citing concerns for the safety and wellbeing of the organization’s clients.
In one family’s case, ICE agents arrested an asylum seeker while he was driving home with his family. The ACLU of Maine said the man had long been complying with immigration officials when agents randomly stopped him one day, broke his driver’s side window and arrested him without a warrant. He was detained for three weeks and later released.
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In a second case that occurred on Jan. 20, during a statewide immigration enforcement operation, masked agents arrested a man, who had lived in Maine for more than 10 years, at his home. He spent a month in ICE detention at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts before he could find a lawyer, who helped secure his release through a habeas petition filed in U.S. District Court, according to the ACLU of Maine.
A third case involved a man who was arrested by federal agents on Jan. 22. The ACLU of Maine said he was “racially profiled, violently arrested, and unlawfully detained after agents smashed his car window.”
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New law limits when police in Maine can work with immigration enforcement agencies
The organization announced the cases and its plans for litigation as a slate of new immigration-related laws took effect in Maine on Wednesday, including one that limits state and local police agencies from working with federal immigration enforcement agencies.
The ACLU of Maine is also involved in a federal lawsuit that a Colombian civil engineer filed against five ICE agents earlier this year, alleging they violated his constitutional rights in January when they smashed his car window, arrested him and detained him in Massachusetts before allowing him to leave that night.
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Tagged: ACLU, ACLU of Maine, federal tort claims act, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, lawsuit
Emily Allen covers courts for the Portland Press Herald. It's her favorite beat so far — before moving to Maine in 2022, she reported on a wide range of topics for public radio in West Virginia and was. More by Emily Allen
