Opinion ID: 786761
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Detention-Related Claims

Text: 64 Wong alleges that by, inter alia, denying her vegetarian meals, subjecting her to strip searches, and denying her access to her followers, the INS officials subjected her to detention conditions that violated her First Amendment right to freely practice her religion and her Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. 65 Wong correctly argues that direct, personal participation is not necessary to establish liability for a constitutional violation. See Johnson v. Duffy, 588 F.2d 740, 743 (9th Cir.1978). The requisite causal connection can be established ... also by setting in motion a series of acts by others which the actor knows or reasonably should know would cause others to inflict the constitutional injury. Id. at 743-44; see also Stevenson v. Koskey, 877 F.2d 1435, 1439 (9th Cir.1989) (causation is established where officer participates in the affirmative acts of another that, acting concurrently, result in deprivation of federal rights). The critical question is whether it was reasonably foreseeable that the actions of the particular INS officials who are named as defendants would lead to the rights violations alleged to have occurred during Wong's detention. See Gini v. Las Vegas Metro. Police Dep't, 40 F.3d 1041, 1044 (9th Cir.1994) (where official did not directly cause a constitutional violation, plaintiff must show the violation was reasonably foreseeable to him). 66 Wong's first amended complaint, however, fails to identify what role, if any, each individual defendant had in placing her in detention, much less whether any of the named INS officials knew or reasonably should have known of the detention conditions to which Wong would be subjected. Without providing the identity of the official or officials who caused the alleged violations, the complaint merely states that Ms. Wong was arrested, handcuffed and placed in detention. She was then taken to the Multnomah County Detention Center where she was subjected to a strip search, including an orifice search, on two separate occasions. Ms. Wong was imprisoned for a total of five days. 67 First Amended Complaint at ¶ 21. With respect to the individual actions of the named defendants, the complaint makes only the following allegations: 68 Beebe improperly revoked Ms. Wong's parole status, id. at ¶ 18; 69 Glover and O'Brien erroneously issued a `Notice and Order of Expedited Removal' and a Determination of Inadmissibility, id. at ¶ 19; and 70 Ms. Wong was given a letter denying her application for the adjustment of status signed by Garcia for Beebe, id. at ¶ 21. 71 The complaint thus fails to identify how the actions of the individual INS officials could foreseeably have caused the First and Fourth Amendment violations Wong is alleged to have suffered while in detention. It is possible that, upon identifying those officials responsible for placing her in detention and for overseeing detention conditions at the INS contract facility in question, Wong may be able to amend her complaint to properly allege constitutional violations by those officials. Her current complaint, however, is insufficient to allege any detention-related constitutional violations by the named INS officials, none of whom is alleged to have played a role in placing her in detention. 19 72 We conclude that the allegations of the operative, first amended complaint are insufficient to establish a constitutional violation regarding Wong's detention conditions on the part of the named INS officials. As far as the complaint demonstrates, the actions of the named INS officials were simply too far removed from the violations of which Wong complains. Accordingly, Wong's detention-related claims against the named INS officials must be dismissed for failure to state a claim. 20