In January 2026, immigration agents pulled a civil engineer named Juan Sebastián Carvajal-Muñoz out of his car on his way to work in Portland, Maine. He told the officers he had a valid work visa. They smashed his car window, pointed a Taser at him, and forced him into an unmarked SUV anyway.

Agents then drove him across state lines to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Massachusetts. Hours later, around 9 p.m., they let him go, having realized they had no legal reason to hold him in the first place. He was left in another state with a broken window, sore wrists, and no way to know if it could happen to him again.

Carvajal-Muñoz is now suing the agents with help from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maine. But holding federal officers accountable is harder than it should be. The Supreme Court has spent years narrowing the legal path people can use to sue federal agents for violating their rights, and courts increasingly turn these cases away before they're ever heard.

"There has to be a way to hold federal officers accountable when they are plainly violating the U.S. Constitution," said Carol Garvan, legal director for the ACLU of Maine.

No one, including federal agents, should be able to smash a window, draw a weapon, and detain someone for hours with no charges and face no consequences. Courts should let this case move forward, and Congress should act to make sure people like Carvajal-Muñoz have a real path to justice.

Sign the petition to demand accountability for Carvajal-Muñoz's wrongful arrest, before another person is left with no way to fight back.