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Roosevelt High School assistant teacher Quentin Williams remembers trying to keep student morale up on Jan. 7. 

Just that morning, 37-year-old Renee Good had been shot to death by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent a few miles away from the school. Students were rattled.   

School let out in the late afternoon and students were still on campus for after-school sports practice or milling at the library across the street. That’s when then-Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino and masked federal agents, who had pursued and detained an observer in their car nearby, got out of their vehicles with their weapons drawn, and swarmed onto the school’s front lawn. 

Roosevelt High School students report on ICE surge

As staff and students gathered and chanted “shame” at the agents, Williams, known to his students as Mr. Q, put himself between the masked and armed agents and his students. 

”There's no drill for ICE agents showing up on school property and harassing people,” Williams said. “I just want to make sure everyone's good. I was just trying to keep the peace – and it definitely was not kept that day.”

Body camera footage obtained by MPR News shows Williams being grabbed by an agent after he tried to help up a teacher colleague agents had knocked to the ground. 

”Multiple agents pushing and shoving all that, and then they take me to the ground,” Williams said. “They're choking me and just being super physical, and it could have been a student.” 

Onlookers cried out to let Williams up and agents sprayed them with pepper spray. Before he knew it, agents were putting Williams in the back of an unmarked SUV. 

Williams was later charged by federal prosecutors with assaulting and impeding federal officers. He also had his name blasted out online by Trump administration officials. Charges against Williams were dropped by authorities only months later.

The Minneapolis educator is now starting on the long path required to file a lawsuit against the federal government. Williams said he wants to show others that federal agents can be held accountable, and ensure that what happened to him doesn’t happen to anyone else.

It’s very difficult to sue the federal government, said Tim Phillips, a civil rights attorney in Minneapolis who has worked extensively on cases involving law enforcement. People can’t sue federal authorities for violating their constitutional rights, but instead need to show that federal officials violated state laws like battery or malicious prosecution. 

“Before 1946, you actually couldn't sue the federal government at all because of something called sovereign immunity,” Phillips said. “But then there was a change in the law, and Congress passed a law called the Federal Tort Claims Act, and this is a law that allows people to sue the U.S. government for injuries caused by federal employees when they are acting in their official duties.” 

Before people can file a lawsuit, Phillips said they need to first file an administrative claim with the agency in question. The agency may choose to deny the claim or negotiate a settlement, but it’s more likely they just won’t respond. 

Once six months have lapsed, the person can legally file their suit, although lawyers fees are capped and punitive damages are not allowed. Another possible deterrent is that people suing the federal government on these grounds aren’t allowed a jury trial, which means a judge decides the outcome of the case and awards the damages, which factor in things like lost income and pain and suffering. 

Unlike with a jury decision, when a judge reaches a verdict, it is issued as a legal conclusion that can be applied to other cases. Even if criminal prosecution isn’t likely, Phillips said the judge’s findings in cases like Williams’ could also potentially be used to set the groundwork for criminal prosecutions of federal agents who violate people’s rights.   

“Despite the downsides to this law, we may be able to establish an archive that would support reform efforts in the future,” Phillips said. “We may be able to create a robust body of judicial findings that will detail all the abuse that occurred.”  

The ACLU of Minnesota and their co-counsels have also filed a number of claims for people alleging they were unlawfully detained or racially profiled by federal agents. Phillips said most people alleging abuse by federal agents in Minnesota over the winter are still within the six month claims period. People have up until two years following the incident to make their claim. 

Williams is being represented by the nonprofit MacArthur Justice Center and Cleveland-based Friedman, Gilbert and Gerhardstein, both of which specialize in civil rights cases. MacArthur senior attorney Jessica Gingold said it’s telling that Williams didn’t give up after his experiences this winter. 

“Taking the step of getting representation and pursuing an FTCA claim is one small way for him to fight back,” Gingold said. “But the other way to fight back is continuing to show up for his community as an educator and as a support for his students.” 

Gingold said she’s hoping Williams’ story helps inspire others harmed by federal agents around the country to file their own claims. She said the claims not only hold the federal government accountable, but can help illuminate the policies, practices and procedures used by agencies like ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 

“In a world that lets this happen, nobody is safe,” Gingold said. “Therefore, we all have to step up and push to change the whole system.” 

Since Williams was detained in January, he’s struggled with anxiety. He believes he was targeted by federal agents because he’s Black. He feels uneasy around people in uniforms, and sometimes worries someone will see his photo on a federal website and think he’s done something criminal.  

Williams said his school community, and especially his students, have done a lot to help him start the healing process. He’s not only a veteran educator at the school, but a graduate of Roosevelt High School.  

“I would just say, we have got to stay positive,” Williams said. “But I think justice, in time, will come.”

Williams and his attorneys are currently investigating his case and hope to file his claim sometime this summer.

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Quentin Williams is starting on what legal experts say is a long path required to file a lawsuit against the federal government.  Williams, an assistant teacher at Roosevelt High School claims ICE agents were ‘choking me and just being super physical’ as he tried to prevent students from being accosted by agents on school grounds on Jan. 7.

Quentin Williams is starting on what legal experts say is a long path required to file a lawsuit against the federal government. Williams, an assistant teacher at Roosevelt High School claims ICE agents were ‘choking me and just being super physical’ as he tried to prevent students from being accosted by agents on school grounds on Jan. 7.

Minneapolis educator pursuing lawsuit after ICE agents detained him outside school during surge

A crowd of onlookers outside a school record ICE agents with their phones.

Minneapolis educator pursuing lawsuit after ICE agents detained him outside school during surge

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