Senators Introduce Bill Allowing Anyone — Including Noncitizens — To Sue Federal Officers for Rights Violations

Senators Richard Blumenthal (D–Conn.) and Alex Padilla (D–Calif.) introduced the Accountability for Federal Law Enforcement Act on Monday, a bill that would let individuals — regardless of citizenship — sue federal officers and agencies that violate their constitutional rights.

The proposal was framed as a response to reported aggressive immigration-enforcement tactics under the Trump administration that civil‑liberties advocates say have infringed on the rights of both immigrants and U.S. citizens.

Report and Testimony Highlight Alleged Abuses

Earlier this month, Senator Blumenthal published a report documenting the broad authority exercised by immigration officials, including incidents of forcible detention. The report compiles firsthand accounts from 22 U.S. citizens who said they were wrongfully detained; five of them testified at a public forum on December 9.

One witness, Wilmer Chavarria, a naturalized citizen and school superintendent, said Customs and Border Protection detained him for four hours after he returned from a visit to Nicaragua. Agents pressed him to consent to searches of his smartphone, tablet and laptop despite his concerns about sensitive student data. Chavarria says agents told him he lacked Fourth Amendment protections at the border; he later filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, with help from the Pacific Legal Foundation, challenging the Department of Homeland Security's so‑called "border exception" for electronic devices.

Another witness, Army veteran George Retes, described a July workplace raid in which officers gave contradictory orders — to drive away and to exit the vehicle — then used tear gas, pepper spray and force to arrest him. Retes says he was held without charges for three days and was not allowed to make a phone call or consult an attorney.

Other testimony described masked immigration authorities using physical force first and investigating afterward. Across these accounts, witnesses reported apparent Fourth Amendment and other constitutional violations regardless of whether agents verified citizenship.

Why Legal Change Is Needed

Under current doctrine, victims face steep obstacles to holding federal officers accountable. The proposed Senate measure mirrors two bills reintroduced in the House in November: a revived Bivens Act, which would restore a private right of action for damages against federal officers who violate constitutional rights, and a Constitutional Accountability Act, which would create a cause of action against federal law enforcement agencies and police departments.

The 1971 Supreme Court decision Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents recognized an implied cause of action for Fourth Amendment violations by federal officers, but subsequent Supreme Court rulings have sharply narrowed Bivens and its remedies. Other statutory avenues are limited as well: Section 1983 provides a civil remedy for rights deprivations by officials acting "under color of" state law, but it does not apply to federal actors. Advocates say amending Section 1983 to include officers acting under the color "of the United States" would close that gap.

"Accountability is not the enemy of respect — it is its foundation," George Retes told lawmakers during his testimony.

Supporters of the new bills argue that guaranteeing an enforceable legal mechanism to hold all law enforcement officers and agencies accountable is essential to protecting constitutional rights and rebuilding public trust. Without remedies and consequences, they warn, violations could continue and worsen.

Originally reported by Reason.com.