A Minneapolis woman is taking legal action against the Department of Homeland Security, alleging federal agents wrongly arrested her and refused to give her medical treatment while in custody.
Homeland Security agents on Jan. 13 detained Aliya Rahman, a U.S. citizen, while she was driving to a doctor’s appointment in south Minneapolis. Rahman filed a federal tort claim Thursday, the first step toward a lawsuit, saying Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and ICE dragged her out of a car and denied her needed medical treatment while she was in custody.
“What happened to Aliya in January should have never taken place in the first place,” said Rahman’s attorney Jessica Gingold, senior counsel at the MacArthur Justice Center. “Aliya’s case is the natural end point of an increasingly militarized federal police force roaming our cities.”
According to the claim, federal agents approached Rahman’s car and shouted conflicting information on where to go.
Rahman said an agent punched in her passenger-side window even though her own window was rolled down. A viral video of the altercation shows agents dragging her out of her car while she yells that she’s disabled and trying to go to the doctor.
Rahman is autistic and in treatment for a previous traumatic brain injury, which she told agents as they dragged her to an unmarked car. She typically uses a cane.
Agents drove her to the Whipple building, where Rahman says she repeatedly asked for medical help. According to the complaint, agents laughed at Rahman and accused her of lying about her needs, and forced her to walk once inside the building after she had asked for a cane or a wheelchair.
Rahman said she was eventually given a wheelchair and put in a cell, where she repeatedly asked for medical help. Eventually, she passed out.
She regained consciousness in a hospital that afternoon. She says she was treated for injuries consistent with assault and a concussion.
In a social media post, ICE said Rahman was impeding agents’ work and did not leave the scene when told to do so.
Rahman was later arrested at Republican President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, which she attended as a guest of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Rahman’s attorneys wrote in the claim that the federal government never provided her with any paperwork and never charged her with any crime. They said she continues to suffer harm related to the injuries and trauma sustained during her arrest in Minneapolis in January.
The federal government has six months to respond to the claim. If they don’t, or if the claim is denied, she can file a lawsuit.
