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StudentNation
/ February 9, 2026
ICE Officers Should Be Held Accountable. These Law School Students Know How.
Over 2,600 students and legal academics have signed a letter calling on Congress to close a loophole to allow individuals to sue federal officers for violating the Constitution.
Amelia Dal Pra
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Observers film ICE agents on February 5, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
(Stephen Maturen / Getty)
This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more StudentNation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected].
At a moment when lawless conduct by federal immigration agencies is facing increased public scrutiny following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, a coalition of law students is demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials be held to account for their violence across our nation.
What started as a late-night idea, inspired by an opinion essay by Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and professor Burt Neuborne, has become a nationwide movement. I worked with a group of Berkeley Law students, including my peers Zadie Adams, Isaiah Paik, Shree Mehrotra, and Kaylana Mueller-Hsia, and professors to write and circulate a letter to Congress calling for a federal equivalent of Section 1983 that would close a long-standing loophole and allow individuals to sue federal officers for constitutional violations.
Currently, Section 1983 allows individuals to sue state or local officers for constitutional violations, but not federal officials. A federal version of Section 1983 would allow people to hold federal officers accountable when their rights are violated. Our proposed bill preserves the original meaning of Section 1983 by eliminating qualified immunity, a doctrine that lets many officials escape accountability for constitutional violations. When Congress enacted Section 1983 in 1871, the law contained no qualified immunity defense; the Supreme Court created it more than a century later. We seek to mirror the original meaning of Section 1983 and extend those same accountability standards to federal officers.
Within days of starting this initiative, students across Berkeley and other law schools—such as the University of Minnesota, New York University, and Texas …
Every delay has consequences.
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ICE Officers Should Be Held Accountable. These Law School Students Know How.
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StudentNation
/ February 9, 2026
ICE Officers Should Be Held Accountable. These Law School Students Know How.
Over 2,600 students and legal academics have signed a letter calling on Congress to close a loophole to allow individuals to sue federal officers for violating the Constitution.
Amelia Dal Pra
Share
Copy Link
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Ad Policy
Observers film ICE agents on February 5, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
(Stephen Maturen / Getty)
This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more StudentNation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected].
At a moment when lawless conduct by federal immigration agencies is facing increased public scrutiny following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, a coalition of law students is demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials be held to account for their violence across our nation.
What started as a late-night idea, inspired by an opinion essay by Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and professor Burt Neuborne, has become a nationwide movement. I worked with a group of Berkeley Law students, including my peers Zadie Adams, Isaiah Paik, Shree Mehrotra, and Kaylana Mueller-Hsia, and professors to write and circulate a letter to Congress calling for a federal equivalent of Section 1983 that would close a long-standing loophole and allow individuals to sue federal officers for constitutional violations.
Currently, Section 1983 allows individuals to sue state or local officers for constitutional violations, but not federal officials. A federal version of Section 1983 would allow people to hold federal officers accountable when their rights are violated. Our proposed bill preserves the original meaning of Section 1983 by eliminating qualified immunity, a doctrine that lets many officials escape accountability for constitutional violations. When Congress enacted Section 1983 in 1871, the law contained no qualified immunity defense; the Supreme Court created it more than a century later. We seek to mirror the original meaning of Section 1983 and extend those same accountability standards to federal officers.
Within days of starting this initiative, students across Berkeley and other law schools—such as the University of Minnesota, New York University, and Texas …
ICE Officers Should Be Held Accountable. These Law School Students Know How.
Every delay has consequences.
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ICE Officers Should Be Held Accountable. These Law School Students Know How.
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Magazine
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The Nation
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Current Issue
Activism
/
StudentNation
/ February 9, 2026
ICE Officers Should Be Held Accountable. These Law School Students Know How.
Over 2,600 students and legal academics have signed a letter calling on Congress to close a loophole to allow individuals to sue federal officers for violating the Constitution.
Amelia Dal Pra
Share
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky Pocket
Email
Ad Policy
Observers film ICE agents on February 5, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
(Stephen Maturen / Getty)
This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more StudentNation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected].
At a moment when lawless conduct by federal immigration agencies is facing increased public scrutiny following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, a coalition of law students is demanding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials be held to account for their violence across our nation.
What started as a late-night idea, inspired by an opinion essay by Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and professor Burt Neuborne, has become a nationwide movement. I worked with a group of Berkeley Law students, including my peers Zadie Adams, Isaiah Paik, Shree Mehrotra, and Kaylana Mueller-Hsia, and professors to write and circulate a letter to Congress calling for a federal equivalent of Section 1983 that would close a long-standing loophole and allow individuals to sue federal officers for constitutional violations.
Currently, Section 1983 allows individuals to sue state or local officers for constitutional violations, but not federal officials. A federal version of Section 1983 would allow people to hold federal officers accountable when their rights are violated. Our proposed bill preserves the original meaning of Section 1983 by eliminating qualified immunity, a doctrine that lets many officials escape accountability for constitutional violations. When Congress enacted Section 1983 in 1871, the law contained no qualified immunity defense; the Supreme Court created it more than a century later. We seek to mirror the original meaning of Section 1983 and extend those same accountability standards to federal officers.
Within days of starting this initiative, students across Berkeley and other law schools—such as the University of Minnesota, New York University, and Texas …
