Ortega, et al. v. U.S. Customs and Border Protection

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Ortega, et al. v. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, No. 1:21-cv-11250-FDS (D. Mass, filed Aug. 2, 2021)

On August 2, 2021, the Boston College Civil Rights Clinic and Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a lawsuit against U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on behalf of Neisa Ortega and her 14-year-old daughter. On multiple occasions over the course of a year, Ms. Ortega and her daughter were separated for hours without explanation and Ms. Ortega subjected to repeated invasive body searches and sexual violations at the hands of CBP officers while travelling through Logan Airport in Boston.

The complaint alleges that CBP subjected Ms. Ortega to illegal and unconstitutional treatment upon her returns from family visits to the Dominican Republic. Beginning in April 2019, CBP officers assaulted, degraded, and humiliated Ms. Ortega on three separate occasions through invasive body cavity searches that contravened CBP’s internal guidelines prohibiting officers from conducting vaginal cavity searches. During these body cavity searches, CBP officers separated Ms. Ortega from her daughter for hours, during which time neither was given information as to the other’s whereabouts. Ms. Ortega and her daughter have been traumatized by their separation from each other, and Ms. Ortega still lives with the trauma of being physically abused and sexually violated. 

On November 5, 2020, Ms. Ortega filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL); CRCL summarily closed the complaint on March 30, 2021. On January 19, 2021, Ms. Ortega filed an administrative claim with CBP on behalf of herself and her daughter under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA); CBP likewise denied the claim in full on June 17, 2021. Having exhausted administrative remedies under the FTCA, Ms. Ortega filed this lawsuit claiming Fourth and Fifth Amendment violations and seeking injunctive and declaratory relief, as well as compensatory relief pursuant to Bivens v. Six Unknown Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971) and the FTCA.

On October 15, 2021, Defendants filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a claim, along with their answer to the complaint, claiming the United States has not waived sovereign immunity to the claims set for by Plaintiffs. On July 14, 2022, the court granted Defendant’s motion to dismiss in part. On July 15, 2022, Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint, which the institutional Defendants answered on August 3, 2022. On September 19, 2022, the individual defendants moved to dismiss the amended complaint for failure to state a claim.  On January 13, 2023, the court heard arguments on the motion to dismiss, and a decision is pending.

On February 23, 2023, the court granted the motion to dismiss on all claims seeking money damages, finding that such claims against the officers in their official capacities are barred by sovereign immunity, and claims against the officers in their individual capacities is foreclosed by Supreme Court precedent. But the court denied the motion to dismiss the declaratory and injunctive claims because Defendants had not addressed those in their motion to dismiss. The parties then entered discovery. On June 28, 2023, the parties filed a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice, and the case was dismissed.

Documents:

Counsel: Boston College Civil Rights Clinic; Lawyers for Civil Rights

Contact: Arielle Sharma, Lawyers for Civil Rights | asharma@lawyersforcivilrights.org; Reena Parikh, Boston College Civil Rights Clinic | reena.parikh@bc.edu