(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The ACLU of Colorado has filed a lawsuit against the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) and FBI, accusing both departments of violating the First and Fourth Amendments.

On Tuesday, Aug. 1, the ACLU said they are representing Jacqueline “Jax” Armendariz Unzueta and the Chinook Center in the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that CSPD obtained unjustified search warrants for the private Facebook messages of the Chinook Center and all of Armendariz Unzueta’s personal devices.

“The warrants failed to comply with foundational constitutional requirements intended to safeguard privacy and are especially important in the digital age,” wrote the ACLU.

According to ACLU’s complaint, in July 2021, during a housing rights march in Colorado Springs that Armendariz Unzueta and the Chinook Center participated in, CSPD officers arrested the activists for marching in the street and other “minor violations.” The ACLU alleges CSPD used the criminal charges as the basis to “execute dragnet search warrants against the plaintiffs,” enlisting the help of the FBI to search and copy the complete contents of Armendariz Unzueta’s devices they seized.

The ACLU said CSPD did not purport to have probable cause to access Chinook Center’s private information. ACLU further alleges CSPD’s justification to search and seize Armendariz Unzueta’s devices was completely unrelated to the “minor offenses with which she was charged.”

“Instead, it was simply CSPD’s assertion that people use their devices to share pictures and messages,” clarified the ACLU. “Accepting the CSPD’s actions, in this case, would eviscerate the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable search and seizures by the government and justify unbounded intrusions into the privacy of anyone associated with someone accused of a crime.”

“This case is about love for my community. I hope CSPD will never again target, terrorize, and attempt to silence others as they did to me,” said Armendariz Unzueta. “We cannot let CSPD continue to be arrogant bullies with badges and guns that violate the civil rights of innocent people because of their entrenched — and ignorant — political and racial biases.”

CSPD released a statement on the matter to FOX21 News on Tuesday. “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on pending litigation. We believe that it is in the best interests of all parties involved to allow the legal process to take its course without interference. We will, however, provide updates as they become available,” wrote CSPD.