ICE agent from Johnson County accused of excessive force, sued in federal court
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- ICE agent Jack Cory Ravencamp is named in a federal suit alleging excessive force.
- He was released in Burlington, Massachusetts, 105 miles south of Portland.
- The lawsuit claims violations of Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights and seeks damages.
Juan Sebastián Carvajal-Muñoz of Colombia, who is a legal resident of the United States, wants someone to pay for what happened to him at the hands of three Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The one ICE agent he specifically names — accusing him of excessive force and other violations of his constitutional rights — is Jack Cory Ravencamp, who records show is from Lenexa, Kansas, and is being defended by attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The civil suit, filed on April 14 in a federal court in Maine, seeks unspecified financial damages.
In it, Carvajal-Muñoz tells a harrowing tale about how, on the morning of Jan. 22, he was driving to work from his home in Portland, when ICE agents abruptly cut in front of his car as part of the federal government’s “Operation Catch of the Day” immigration crackdown in the state.
Window smashed, put in shackles
Carvajal-Muñoz was a legal resident. He had previously come from Colombia on a student visa to earn his master’s degree in civil engineering at the University of Maine. He was in the U.S. under a legal H-1B visa. He worked as a civil engineer, the suit says, specializing in conducting soil and foundation analyses for bridge construction across Maine for GEI Consultants.
As stated in the suit, the agents “bashed in his window, dragged him out of the car, handcuffed him, and left his car running in the middle of the street in downtown Portland.”
Carvajal-Muñoz offered proof of his lawful immigration status, which he kept in his wallet. The agents, the suit says, told Carvajal-Muñoz that his visa would be revoked “and placed him in full-body shackles.”
“Agents then drove (Carvajal-Muñoz) around for hours,” the lawsuit says, “refused to release him despite instruction to do so, and instead locked (him) in a windowless cell in an ICE facility in Massachusetts. As abruptly as the agents had abducted him, they released him in Burlington, Massachusetts, after 9 p.m. that night, leaving him to find his way back home.”
Burlington, Massachusetts, is 105 miles south of Portland.
Two unidentified ICE agents also being sued
The suit identifies Ravencamp as one of the agents who directly participated in the stop. It also accused two other agents. One is identified as John Doe No. 1 because he was masked. The other is a female agent, Jane Doe No. 1, who was also masked. The three, the suit says, are being sued as individuals.
The Star sought comment Wednesday from Ravencamp’s listed Department of Justice attorneys, Anna Drake Stephens and John Blair Fishwick Martin, but did not receive a response. Comments were also sought from the lead attorneys for Carvajal-Muñoz, who is being represented by private attorneys, Benjamin Gideon and Taylor Asen of the firm Gideon Asen and the ACLU of Maine.
The ACLU posted comments on its website in April after filing suit.
“Even though Mr. Carvajal-Muñoz complied and posed no safety threat,” the organization wrote, “agents smashed his window with a crowbar, dragged him out of the car at taser-point, handcuffed him, and placed him in the unmarked SUV. … Carvajal-Muñoz was afraid for his life, especially after seeing what had happened to Renée Good in Minnesota two weeks before.”
Excessive force, no probable cause, racial discrimination
The suit asserts that Ravencamp and the unnamed ICE agents violated Carvajal-Muñoz’s Fourth Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights, accusing them of excessive force, suspicionless stop, a warrantless arrest without probable cause, racial discrimination, prolonged detention and violation of his right to equal protection.
“Federal agents came to Maine and terrorized entire communities, just as they have done throughout the country,” Carvajal-Muñoz is quoted by the ACLU as saying. “All people should be free to move about their communities safely, knowing they will not be violently arrested by masked agents simply for driving while Latino. … I hope this case can prevent agents from violating other people’s constitutional rights so the United States can fulfill its promise of being a beacon of freedom, opportunity, and safety for all people.”
In the 19 months since President Donald Trump began his second term, his administration has executed a massive push to restrict immigration, and shut off refugee relocation in what the administration has promised to be the “largest domestic deportation operation in U.S. history.”
In that time, Ravencamp — with his Mohawk haircut, beard and heavily tattooed arms and neck — has become a familiar figure to immigration activists, advocates and others opposed to the Trump administration’s actions. His detractors have frequently cast him as overly aggressive.
Whereas many ICE and other Department of Homeland Security officers hide their identities and cover their faces with masks, Ravencamp traditionally has not. His image has been photographed or recorded on video at multiple ICE actions around the country, including in the Kansas City area and Lawrence.
Attorneys for Ravencamp and the other agents have not filed a response to the federal complaint. A court date has yet to be set.
