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Public Justice: communications@publicjustice.net
David Webbert: 207-333-2725; david@work.law

This is the first lawsuit filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) against the U.S. government for the actions of DHS agents during ICE’s “Operation Catch of the Day.”

Portland – Robert Peck, of South Portland, filed his FTCA claim in Maine federal court this morning against the U.S. government based on the actions of two federal immigration agents who were recorded violating his First and Fourth Amendment rights.

Mr. Peck initially filed a lawsuit against the agents under Maine law on June 4, 2026, and, now that a statutory waiting period has passed, he has now amended the complaint to add claims against the United States under the FTCA, which allows people to sue the U.S. government when injured by federal workers.

On January 22, 2026, Mr. Peck filmed two masked and armed agents approach his car and admonish him for committing a federal crime merely by driving at a safe distance behind their vehicle on public roads near his home. They only let him go after stating, “That’s your one warning, if you keep doing it, we’ll pull you back out and arrest you.”

Mr. Peck is a 67-year-old U.S. citizen, the court complaint states, who is suing to uphold the fundamental First Amendment right of Americans to peacefully observe the public actions of their government.” The Complaint further explains the two agents detained him without reasonable suspicion, which was an “unconstitutional seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

This case challenges a key instrument of intimidation and retaliation used by DHS against Americans nationwide who exercise their First Amendment rights to observe and protest the actions of ICE agents: deploying a criminal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 111, to chill and punish protected free speech by falsely claiming that this statute makes it a crime for Americans merely to observe the public activities of federal agents. In truth, that statute makes it a crime to “forcibly impede” law enforcement and no reasonable federal agent could think Mr. Peck’s activity of following agents at a safe distance in a car met that definition.

“Because this a ten-alarm civil rights emergency, we filed the required FTCA notice of claim eight days after Mr. Peck caught them on camera,” said David Webbert of Johnson, Webbert & Beard, LLP, one of Mr. Peck’s lawyers. “After waiting the six months required by the FTCA, we are suing in court to set a clear precedent that § 111 cannot be used to make it a crime for Americans to exercise their First Amendment rights.”

“This is just one example out of many that demonstrates how our government and its operatives are increasingly flouting the law to target immigrants and stifle protected free speech,” said Shelby Leighton of Public Justice, one of the attorneys who represents Mr. Peck. “We are fortunate that the FTCA enables us to hold government agents accountable for these abuses of power, and we look forward to enforcing that law in court.”

A copy of the Court Complaint can be accessed here. Mr. Peck is represented by attorneys Shelby Leighton and Ana Builes of Public Justice and lawyers David Webbert, Braden Beard, and Allan Townsend of the civil rights law firm Johnson, Webbert & Beard, LLP.

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