SacBee: Padilla aims to make it easier to sue federal immigration officials
By David Lightman
Sen. Alex Padilla and his Democratic colleagues are teaming up to push a measure allowing people to sue federal law enforcement officers and agencies – notably immigration officials – in civil court for violating someone’s civil and constitutional rights.
Their plan would permit people to sue regardless of their citizenship.
Padilla, D-Calif., aimed squarely at what he saw as abuses by immigration officials.
He said that for months, those officials “have terrorized communities across the country, deploying violent and excessive tactics against immigrants, U.S. citizens, journalists, and bystanders alike with no accountability.”
Padilla, top Democrat on the Senate border security and immigration subcommittee, called the actions “abuses of individuals’ constitutional rights without consequence.”
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
ICE sees success in Los Angeles
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, last week said that thanks to its crackdown on undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles, “California is safer with these thugs off their streets.”
She said that, “in the face of violence from rioters and demonization by sanctuary politicians, DHS law enforcement has made over 10,000 arrests in Los Angeles since operations began in June. Some of the most heinous criminal illegal aliens arrested include murderers, kidnappers, sexual predators, and armed carjackers.”
Under current law, people can sue state and local officers for violations of constitutional rights.
While the Supreme Court has permitted some action against federal authorities, that ruling has been interpreted narrowly in other cases, making it difficult to bring lawsuits.
The Padilla bill has strong Democratic support but no Republicans have signed on.
“Federal officials should not be allowed to violate someone’s constitutional rights with impunity, and one of the best ways to prevent that is to hold accountable the agencies responsible for those officials’ conduct,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The bill, titled the Accountability for Federal Law Enforcement Act, would allow lawsuits against federal agencies “when their employees violate constitutional rights, regardless of whether an agency policy caused the harm, and waiving sovereign immunity for these claims to ensure victims have access to redress in federal court.”
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