By Judy Harrison
Bangor Daily News
PORTLAND, Maine — The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine on Tuesday filed an excessive force lawsuit in U.S. District Court against two Cumberland County Jail guards on behalf of a man who has been deported.
The complaint alleged Wilmer Moreno Recinos of El Salvador suffered “substantial long-term physical pain as well as anxiety and other psychological harms” as a result of injuries inflicted by Glenn MacDonald and Steven Pyle on Nov. 10, 2010.
The ACLU of Maine did not sue the jail or its administrator over policies or practices in place.
Recinos was being held at the 72-hour unit at the jail in Portland after being arrested earlier in the day by local police for an immigration violation, according to the complaint.
The ACLU of Maine is seeking an undisclosed amount in compensatory damages, attorney’s fees and litigation costs.
The lawsuit is one of several filed in federal court around the nation by ACLU branches over conditions in which immigrants facing deportation are detained.