WASHINGTON, D.C. — During the American Civil Liberties Union’s third annual “Community Safety Week,” civil rights organizations, survivors of federal law enforcement abuse and legal advocates met on Capitol Hill to support increased legislative oversight for federal officers responsible for constitutional violations.
According to the ACLU, the organizations are calling on Congress to adopt two new bills, known as the Bivens Act and the Constitutional Accountability Act, which would reinstate the right to sue federal officers for committing constitutional violations during law enforcement procedures.
The initiative comes at a time of heightened public attention on national issues involving federal policing tactics, immigration raids and the expansion of federal law enforcement jurisdiction.
As stated in the press release issued during Community Safety Week, existing civil rights protections offer few or no options for relief to individuals whose constitutional rights were violated by a federal officer.
The group also noted the federal government’s efforts to increase investments in immigration enforcement and mass deportations while cutting millions of dollars in funding allocated to community-based public safety and justice programs. According to the report, the Department of Justice recently slashed about $500 million in federal grant funding provided to groups that promote safety and justice initiatives.
Among the incidents highlighted during Community Safety Week was the case of Teyana Gibson Brown, who said she was subjected to an illegal federal immigration raid in Minneapolis.
During the hearing, Brown described the raid, alleging that federal law enforcement officers armed with weapons forcefully entered her house using a battering ram, pointed guns at her family members and arrested her husband while a young child was still present in the home.
“No family should have to go through what we did,” Brown stated during the hearing.
Advocates said the cases featured during Community Safety Week demonstrate how federal law enforcement agencies operate today, exercising wide discretion while remaining free from accountability mechanisms commonly applied to local police departments.
According to the proposal, the new Bivens Act would revive the original Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents Supreme Court decision from 1971, which established individual liability against federal officers.
Since then, however, the high court has made a number of significant changes to the Bivens doctrine, effectively narrowing the scope of Bivens claims and leaving victims with few options to sue federal officials for constitutional violations.
Civil rights activists believe the narrowing has created an accountability gap between police forces operating at different levels of jurisdiction and are therefore calling on federal lawmakers to provide adequate relief to victims.
“Whether it’s ATF agents violating the Second Amendment, Ice violating the Fourth, or the IRS violating the First, individuals who have their rights violated by federal officials must have a remedy in federal courts,” Patrick Jaicomo of the Institute for Justice told attendees during Community Safety Week.
The movement for increased federal accountability has been fueled by rising tensions related to federal immigration enforcement practices in recent months.
Incidents ranging from masked ICE agents to secret subpoena issuances have placed federal agencies under increased public scrutiny over accountability concerns. The introduction of a bipartisan bill dubbed the Subpoena Abuse Prevention Act this week seeks to reduce the federal government’s ability to use administrative subpoenas following reports about the department’s attempts to uncover identifying information about social media users who criticize and track ICE raids.
Similar debates are taking place in other cities and states regarding mandatory identification requirements for federal officers conducting law enforcement activities. This year, California passed the first legislation in the nation making identification requirements applicable to federal law enforcement officials; however, the law is currently under appeal.
Civil rights activists view these developments as part of a broader trend of expanding policing powers without sufficient public oversight. At the same time, the ACLU pointed to growing public support for accountability measures, citing a recent national survey.
Advocates emphasized that the accountability issue is not limited to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but also involves multiple agencies such as DHS, FBI, ATF and the IRS, which have faced accusations of unlawful conduct.
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund Justice in Public Safety Project argued that federal lawmakers have failed to pass meaningful legislation despite years of protests over police brutality and racial injustice.
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