Aliya Rahman Files Complaint Against DHS, Sets Stage For Federal Lawsuit | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON — Minneapolis resident Aliya Rahman on Thursday filed a grievance towards the Department of Homeland Security over federal immigration enforcement officers’ “brutal tactics and conduct” towards her in January, after they inexplicably dragged her out of her automotive on her option to a health care provider’s appointment.

Rahman, whose violent arrest was captured on video and went viralfiled a Federal Tort Claims Act declare, alleging illegal use of pressure and detention by DHS brokers. It’s primarily an administrative grievance, but it surely is step one crucial for bringing a lawsuit towards the federal authorities, which Rahman intends to do.

Here’s a duplicate of her grievance, first obtained by HuffPost:

“The federal officers’ brutal tactics and conduct during her arrest and detention on January 13th were flagrantly illegal, violating, among other laws, the Constitution, disability law, and agency regulations and policies related to disability accommodations, use of force, arrest practices, detention practices, and provision of medical care,” reads the grievance, submitted on Rahman’s behalf by her authorized staff at The MacArthur Justice Center and Minnesota-based legal professional Al Gerhardstein of Friedman Gilbert + Gerhardstein.

“Moreover, federal officers violated the mandatory duties of care they owed to Aliya under federal and state law,” it reads. “These duties include, but are not limited to, ensuring the health and safety of individuals detained in DHS/ICE/CBP custody, providing essential medical care, and providing necessary disability accommodations. The federal officers’ unlawful conduct caused Aliya damages.”

In an announcement, a DHS spokesperson accused Rahman of attempting to “smear” federal officers and stated she was obstructing their operations in January.

“As officers carried out their law enforcement duties, a significant crowd surrounded them and began impeding law enforcement operations — a federal crime,” the spokesperson stated. “One agitator ignored multiple commands by an officer to move her vehicle away from the scene, she was arrested for obstruction. Any claim she was denied medical care is FALSE and just another smear leading to a 1,300% increase in assaults and 3,300% increase in vehicular attacks. Reminder: Obstruction law enforcement is a federal crime and a felony.”

Rahman, a Bangladeshi American software program engineer who’s autistic and has bodily disabilities, was driving to a health care provider’s appointment on Jan. 13 when federal brokers stopped her automotive, smashed within the passenger window and reduce her out of her seat belt to haul her onto the road. She was taken to a federal detention heart infamous for its poor situations.

Rahman testified to Congress in February about her assault and detention, the place her requests for medical care had been ignored for hours till she fell unconscious and a cellmate needed to beg for assist. She believes she virtually died that day.

As if that wasn’t sufficient trauma, whereas attending the State of the Union handle in February as a visitor of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rahman was inexplicably dragged out and arrested for standing up. The authorities finally opted to not search fees.

In a Wednesday interview, Rahman instructed HuffPost it’s “extremely important” to her to take authorized motion towards the federal brokers who assaulted her, partially as a result of she desires different folks to see that they’ll additionally carry such motion if crucial.

You can’t sue a federal agent for constitutional violations immediately, however you may file an FTCA declare as a workaround that means that you can sue for improper actions by a authorities worker. State legal guidelines are the premise for submitting such claims, which then open the door to submitting a federal lawsuit.

“At first, I was like, wow, we can’t sue a federal ICE officer,” Rahman stated. “But states are fighting back against the federal government. States are standing up and saying, ‘Not in our state.’ It’s extremely important we do anything we can to be a force multiplier.”

“This shows we can hit back,” she stated.

DHS has six months to answer her grievance.

“They may not respond, which is common, or they could offer a response we don’t like or deny our claim,” stated Rahman’s legal professional, Jessica Gingold of The MacArthur Justice Center. “After that, we get to take this to court, which we have every intention of doing.”

She finally expects to file a lawsuit in a Minnesota district court docket.

Rahman’s assault befell on the top of the Trump administration’s surge of federal immigration enforcement brokers in Minnesota, when 1000’s of officers swarmed the state searching for brown and Black folks to detain, no matter their citizenship or legal report. Their monthslong occupation traumatized communities, tore households aside and resulted in two Americans being killed by federal brokers, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Rahman’s FTCA declare is searching for a financial treatment, although her legal professional declined to share the greenback quantity. Rahman volunteered that, at a minimal, she’s asking to be compensated for medical payments stemming from her assault and denial of care on the detention heart.

She additionally desires to be paid again for the injury federal brokers did to her automotive, which they left un-drivable after smashing in a window and reducing up a seat belt. That value Rahman greater than $700. She lately went to maneuver the passenger seat and heard crunching sounds within the door, the sound of damaged glass nonetheless inside.

“This is a city that was littered with glass” as federal brokers roamed round like youngsters “playing a video game,” Rahman stated. “So far, nobody has told them to go to their room and think about what you did. If that’s the only thing that comes from this [lawsuit]good.”

She added: “For me, it’s a duty to do everything I can, use every tool in my box — I’m not elected, I’m not wealthy — to say we’re not going to do this. This is not the country we’re going to have.”