Overview
- This week the ACLU and state affiliates submitted 54 Federal Tort Claims Act administrative claims across 17 states and Washington, D.C., seeking damages for alleged misconduct by ICE and DHS personnel.
- One claim filed in New Jersey by nurse Norma Bowe seeks $500,000 and says ICE agents threw her to the ground as she tried to help a woman outside Delaney Hall; video of the May 25, 2026, encounter has been verified by her legal team and she reports treatment for a concussion and a kneecap fracture.
- The claims allege a range of harms including use of excessive force, racial profiling, unlawful detentions, and mistreatment in custody, and they include both U.S. citizens and immigrants such as two Chicago-area cemetery workers who say they were maced and detained.
- The Department of Homeland Security defended its officers in public statements and criticized the ACLU while legal experts note the FTCA stage is a prerequisite to suing the federal government and does not allow punitive damages or easy suits against individual agents.
- The filings create a coordinated, multi‑state push that could lead to federal lawsuits and increased oversight, and they add to ongoing criminal and agency probes that together may shape policy and accountability for future ICE operations.