U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wants individuals to have the right to sue ICE agents and other federal law enforcement officers in civil court.
He has introduced a bill called the Accountability for Law Enforcement Act.
It’s in response to the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last week, Blumenthal said, at a news briefing in Hartford on Friday.
“We need to provide remedies and recourse so that rights can be vindicated when people are shot, or dragged out of cars and injured, or denied access to a lawyer when they are detained,” Blumenthal said.
The Democrat acknowledged that passage of the bill would require Republican support.
“It will require Republicans to grow a backbone and stand up to the President. Because it is the president who has created a lot of this lawlessness. And ICE must be held accountable,” he said.
Under current law, individuals can sue state and local police officers for constitutional rights violations. But there is no comparable statutory right to sue federal officers.
