What happens if an executive crosses the line? Usually it’s very little.
The path to sue federal officials is even more limited than that of police officers, making it particularly difficult for immigrants to hold officers accountable for fraud.
“The decks are stacked against them,” says Flyshaker, a former top ice official.
Even if a judge decides to award damages, it does not change what usually happens or has already happened in another system of immigration courts. Evidence of violent arrests rarely stops deportation, and if people have already been deported, it will not bring them back.
In the example of families detained on Mother’s Day, they filed complaints about “illegal and excessive” behaviour, but their father has already been deported to Mexico. (The government has not answered the complaints or Propublica’s questions about it.) The complaint, which portends a complete civil lawsuit, tells the three-year-old that “the police broke the windows and threw daddy on the floor.”
In a similar case, the village is small. A California woman who was detained by the Border Patrol in 2016 was taken into custody after an agent squealed for $25,000 two years later after an agent smashed a car window.
When I asked the White House in detail about tactics and specific cases, it was standing by the actions of the officers. “Propublica is a leftist rag shamelessly making bids for illegal foreigners in crime,” Deputy Director Abigail Jackson said in a statement. “Ice officers are escaping these violent, illegal aliens from the streets of America with the greatest professionalism.”
Homeland Security Director Tricia McLaughlin defended the tactics in response to questions about the Border Patrol. If residents fail to comply with the orders, officers “may break down the windows of the vehicle,” she said. In June, an ICE spokesman told Propublica:
Other agencies in which the officers were involved in the incident we documented – the FBI. DEA; and the Bureau of Alcohol, cigarettes, firearms and explosives did not respond or refuse to comment on any particular case.
