Minneapolis woman dragged from car by ICE agents sues federal government
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A Minneapolis woman who was dragged from her car and detained by ICE agents last winter has filed a lawsuit alleging her constitutional rights were violated.
Aliya Rahman said she was trying to get to a doctor's appointment on Jan. 13 when she encountered federal agents near the intersection of 34th Street and Park Avenue in south Minneapolis. She said she was given contradictory orders by agents to continue driving or exit the vehicle.
Videos of the incident went viral. They show agents smashing Rahman’s car window and aggressively pulling her out of the car, even though she told them she was a U.S. citizen. Four agents then carried her by her legs and arms to an unmarked SUV and transported her to Whipple Federal Building.
Rahman said she told the agents she was autistic and had a traumatic brain injury, so she needed accommodation, but she was disregarded. She said her health worsened until she fell unconscious in her cell, only to wake up at Hennepin County Medical Center. She was never charged with a crime.
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Rahman said she wants to highlight the long history of state violence in the United States, especially toward Indigenous and Black people.
“Since Metro Surge, we have watched ICE continue to shoot people in their cars, leave the grieving families of Keith Porter and Victor Diaz and so many others waiting for answers, expand their budget and footprint, and detain dramatically more people per month,” Rahman said. “These things happened because it was already culturally normal for law enforcement to operate without accountability.”
Rahman is alleging that federal agents engaged in battery, assault and false imprisonment, as well a number of other charges.
Local counsel Al Gerhardstein called the agents’ behavior “outrageous and illegal.”
MacArthur Justice Center Senior Attorney Jessica Gingold said the lawsuit is one more step towards holding the federal government accountable for behavior during immigration enforcement efforts across the country.
“What happened to Aliya is not a result of just a couple of rogue officers,” Gingold said. “It is the result of a lawless and negligent government, encouraging and egging on officers who were recklessly and systemically violating the rights of individuals.”
The agents involved in Rahman’s detention have not yet been publicly identified.
A spokesperson for ICE said it “does not comment on or discuss matters involving ongoing litigation.”
Other Minnesotans — including a Minneapolis Roosevelt High School educator and a nurse from St. Peter — have also filed lawsuits tied to ICE agents' conduct.
