Border agents did not respond well when Gerardo Serrano told them to get a warrant before searching his phone at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Texas. To teach him a lesson, they seized his nearly new Ford F-250, worth about $38,000, and kept the vehicle for the next two years without due process.

When the Kentucky resident finally got his truck back, the government offered no apology or compensation. Instead, the two agents who violated Serrano’s rights claimed they could not be sued because of their status as federal agents.