NEW YORK — Amid allegations of violence, dangerous detention conditions and abuse by federal immigration agents, the American Civil Liberties Union continued its push Wednesday to hold the Trump administration accountable, filing 54 claims in 17 states against the federal government on behalf of people whose rights it says have been repeatedly put in jeopardy.
The claims have been specifically filed against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who are under the president’s executive authority. Claims were filed on behalf of people who have “suffered serious violence, abuse, and neglect at the hands of federal law enforcement.”
Since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s term, reports found that ICE agents had “detained more than 10,000 people in five days” in early July 2026 — a noticeable increase from 2024, when ICE officials detained 2,221 individuals from February to August. Additionally, the rate of deaths in ICE custody has more than doubled due to conditions within the facilities.
Human Rights Watch states, “Long-term concerns about US immigration detention include poor conditions in detention facilities, such as unsanitary facilities and inadequate food, which contribute to illness and disease.”
“Food contaminated with worms and mold, limited access to clean drinking water, inadequate medical care” is how Geoffrey Bennett, an American broadcast journalist and co-anchor of PBS NewsHour, described the poor living conditions in ICE detention centers.
Becky Wolozin, a senior lawyer with the National Center for Youth Law, added, “We have seen and heard a lot of things about children not getting child-friendly food, not being able to eat what’s offered. As you mentioned, people reported vegetables that were moldy or had worms in them.”
Additionally, two widely reported death cases for which the ACLU filed claims involved the deaths of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine at the hands of ICE agents. Neither of the victims was the original target of the respective operation.
The claims have been filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which seeks justice for the victims and their families through financial compensation. Under the FTCA, “ACLU affiliates are fighting back against the Trump administration’s illegal conduct,” the ACLU said.
Dozens of families and individuals are “seeking justice for the harm they experienced at the hands of federal immigration agents,” and these affiliates are helping them do so. “Immigrants, U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, families, workers, and people exercising their constitutional rights” have been the victims of this abuse.
One of the individuals being represented is a mother who was being held with her four children and was also five months into a high-risk pregnancy. She and her children were held in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility with “limited access to clean running water and without any windows to the outside” for about a month.
Another victim, Norma Bowe, a grandmother, professor, registered nurse and an individual being represented by the ACLU of New Jersey, was “assaulted in front of Delaney Hall by ICE agents while there to operate her mobile health clinic.”
Bowe described the incident: “I was violently attacked by ICE agents while I was trying to provide medical care for people visiting their loved ones in Delaney Hall.”
“ICE agents are acting like they have impunity and are inflicting harm however and whenever they want; without accountability, more people will get hurt and die. ICE must be held responsible,” Bowe said.
“No one should lose their dignity the moment they come face to face with those who hold power,” said Darren, a U.S. citizen who was arrested by Department of Homeland Security agents and “required hospitalization for the chemical irritants they used against him and was left without any of his confiscated property.”
“Federal law enforcement have abused and terrorized countless people,” the ACLU states. “We demand justice for their victims.”
The ACLU will continue to push back against what it describes as the unlawful and inhumane actions of the Trump administration and fight to defend the rights of all.
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