Immigration Agent Immune to Claim for Alleged Excessive Force

A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is immune from claims she unconstitutionally seized a lawyer she allegedly knocked down while the attorney was trying to reunite a child with his mother prior to their deportation, the Eighth Circuit said.

Andrea Martinez, who broke her foot and got a concussion during the 2018 altercation, may have an assault and battery claim for use of excessive force against agent Ronnet Sasse, but it wasn’t clearly established at the time that Sasse’s alleged behavior violated the Fourth Amendment, the opinion by Judge Steven M. Colloton said.

Martinez was entering an ICE facility ...