Aliya Rahman, whose image spread widely after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled her from her car in Minneapolis in January, has sued the federal government over what she describes as abuse and wrongful detention, HuffPost reports.
According to her suit and the viral footage, Rahman, a Bangladeshi-American software engineer who is autistic and has physical disabilities, was on her way to a medical appointment on Jan. 13 when federal agents boxed in her car, broke the window, and pulled her out. She alleges she was held for hours at a federal detention center, where she says she was denied medical care and beaten by officers, requiring hospitalization.
Filed Tuesday in federal court in Minnesota, the suit brings eight counts, among them assault, battery, false arrest, false imprisonment and negligence. Rahman has said she believes she was "targeted," and has since testified before Congress about the encounter.
“I am one of many who have been impacted by this government’s vile abuse of power,” Rahman said in a statement, adding that the terror did not start in January and has not stopped.
HuffPost reports Rahman took earlier steps, filing an administrative claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act in April, which is required before suing, and a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security civil rights office in June. She is represented by the MacArthur Justice Center and the firm Friedman Gilbert + Gerhardstein, and still doesn’t know the agents’ names.
At a press conference, the MacArthur Justice Center’s Jessica Gingold dismissed the idea that the agents have absolute immunity, saying DHS asserted that on the day of the incident. She said the legal team has photos of the agents and a right to depose them and obtain their records.
“We will find the names,” she said.