The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine is seeking more than $5 million in damages for several residents it said were subject to violent, unjustified immigration arrests.
Legal director Carol Garvan said the alleged abuses are part of a nationwide escalation of immigration enforcement tactics.
“We have examples of people who were unlawfully detained, who were shackled, who were placed in unlawful detention, sometimes for weeks, whose windows were bashed in,” she said.
Garvan said the three incidents in Maine are among 54 claims being brought nationwide under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which provides an avenue to sue the federal government for harm caused by a federal employee or agent.
The first step, she said, is filing notice with the agencies themselves — in this case, the Department of Justice, Customs and Border Protection, and ICE — but that they could eventually end up in court.
“These FTCA claims are a really important way to hold those actors accountable for damages when they harm the people of Maine,” Garvan said.
Spokespeople for the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.