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There was, unfortunately, nothing unusual about Juan Sebastián Carvajal-Muñoz’s brutal abduction by masked immigration agents in January. Carvajal-Muñoz, a lawful Maine resident with a spotless record, was driving to work when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers allegedly cut him off, smashed his window, dragged him out, and put him in full-body shackles. They then threw him in the back of an unmarked SUV, leaving his car running with his keys inside it and his phone on the ground. These agents allegedly spent the rest of the day taunting and terrorizing Carvajal-Muñoz, refusing to accept proof of his lawful status and insisting that his visa would be revoked. They later locked him in a windowless cell with about two dozen other men that had no beds and a single, open toilet. That night, without any clear explanation, they dumped him in another state, leaving him to find his own way back home without his car or phone.

Such accounts have become all too familiar since Donald Trump returned to office and unleashed the Department of Homeland Security to assault, kidnap, and imprison anyone who appears Latino. What makes Carvajal-Muñoz’s story different is that he is fighting back against the agents who violated his rights—and stands a real chance of winning. On Tuesday, a group of civil rights lawyers, including the ACLU and its Maine chapter, filed a lawsuit against these agents, seeking damages for the immense harm they allegedly inflicted on Carvajal-Muñoz. It is notoriously difficult to sue federal officers under recent Supreme Court precedents. But Carvajal-Muñoz’s attorneys are testing a legal theory that circumvents these roadblocks by suing officers under state law for violations of his constitutional rights. This strategy is largely untested, but it may be the only remaining way to hold ICE accountable in court. And if it works, it could open the door to a flood of similar suits by ICE’s many other victims.

Although ICE agents........

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