How a Bay Area Attorney Aims to Hold US Agents Accountable for Violence in Minneapolis

A prominent Bay Area civil rights attorney led a legal coalition in Minneapolis that filed claims on Thursday alleging abuse by federal agents during the immigration enforcement surge there this winter.

The firm of Oakland-based attorney John Burris filed 10 federal claims against the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies, charging that officers violated the rights of Minneapolis residents to protest, illegally detained them and used excessive force.

During the surge and subsequent protests, federal officers arrested several thousand immigrants and fatally shot two U.S. citizen demonstrators.

“There were some bad actors involved in this, people who seemed not to be well-trained in basic law enforcement,” said Burris, who has built a long career representing plaintiffs in police brutality cases, and who got involved in the Minneapolis cases at the urging of his colleague James Cook, who’s from Minnesota.

He described the behavior of Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minneapolis as “Gestapo-type techniques.”

The 10 claims seek monetary damages for pain and suffering as a result of federal agents’ actions. Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, private individuals can sue the U.S. government for damages inflicted by agents acting on the government’s behalf.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the claim of Georgia Wynn Savageford, she was blowing a whistle and engaged in peaceful protest on the morning of Jan. 24 when an officer pushed her to the pavement, dragged her face-down across the street and knelt on her back to handcuff her.

From the back of an ICE vehicle, she watched a federal officer shoot and kill fellow protester Alex Pretti, the claim said, then she was taken to a warehouse next to the federal building, where she said she was held all day.

“​​For approximately five hours, agents repeatedly moved Ms. Savageford between cells to ask ‘who was paying’ Ms. Savageford. Over the course of the detention, agents frequently searched beneath Ms. Savageford’s clothing and forced Ms. Savageford to undress,” according to the complaint.

The claim of Matt Allen said he came out to a protest later that day, after Pretti was shot. When federal agents began using tear gas and flash-bang grenades, Allen began to walk away, but he was hit in the back with projectiles. When he started to run, the claim said, agents tackled him to the ground and arrested him.

“The agents repeatedly told Mr. Allen to ‘stop resisting,’ but Mr. Allen was not resisting,” the claim said. “The agents called Mr. Allen names such as ‘fat ass’ and ‘black bitch.’ One agent pepper-sprayed Mr. Allen in the face.”

Speaking at a German restaurant in Minneapolis on Thursday in a press conference announcing the claims, Allen’s wife, Sarah Allen, said she heard a commotion behind her that day and a man’s voice crying out.

“When I turn around to see what was happening, all I can see is a group of masked agents violently assaulting my husband,” she said. “It is incredibly difficult to explain the kind of fear that you feel as you realize that these people who hours before had just shot and killed an innocent man in the street might now do the same to the love of your life in front of your eyes.”

Paramedics eventually took Matt Allen to the emergency room, according to his claim.

Burris said the claims are the first step toward a class-action lawsuit. He said the legal team, which also involves lawyers in Minnesota, is in the process of vetting 80 more cases, and added that additional people came forward with potential claims after the press conference.

But he said one obstacle to filing a lawsuit is identifying the agents involved, most of whom were masked and did not wear visible identification of their names or badge numbers.

Burris said Trump administration leadership, including then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, also bear responsibility because of statements they made that officers had legal immunity for their actions.

“That gave direction, it seems to me, to the officers to believe that there were no restraints,” he said. “This goes to the very top of the agency, because they’re the ones that created this environment.”

Burris said he was struck by what good people the Minneapolis protesters are and feels honored to represent them.

“These are just ordinary citizens who are speaking up in a sense of outrage over what was happening to the people in their community,” he said.

Sarah Allen added that she and her husband were filing the claims to hold the Trump administration accountable for breaking the law.

“We cannot allow this to continue,” she said. “We’re Minnesotan through and through, which means we protect each other. If you show up here to terrorize and brutalize our neighbors and our streets, we’re going to show you just how Minnesota nice we are.”