A traffic stop of a Latino motorist on Interstate 81 at Carlisle has become the linchpin of a newly-filed federal lawsuit claiming the Pennsylvania State Police have illegally been using racial profiling to enforce U.S. immigration laws.

State police have no legal grounds to pull over and unnecessarily detain drivers on the basis of their perceived ethnicity and troopers have exceeded their authority by abetting immigration enforcement, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania contends in the complaint.

State police spokesman Ryan Tarkowski declined comment on the suit Thursday. He said the state police don’t comment on pending litigation.

The ACLU’s filing of the U.S. Middle District Court suit on behalf of three New York residents follows repeated criticism and media scrutiny of the involvement of state troopers in immigration law enforcement.

In late January, the state police unveiled a new policy that prohibits troopers from asking passengers in vehicles involved in traffic stops for identification for the sole purpose of determining if they are in the U.S. legally. Also, it bars troopers from detaining or arresting foreign nationals if their only offense is being in country illegally.

Formulation of those guidelines occurred at the urging of Gov. Tom Wolf following an investigation by ProPublica and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The ACLU contends in the federal lawsuit that the new policy falls short. That suit is based on what supposedly happened on I-81 in Cumberland County on April 9, 2017 when Trooper Trooper Luke Macke pulled over an SUV driven by Maria Marquez of Brentwood, NY.

Marquez claims Macke followed her vehicle for several minutes before activating his cruiser’s lights. When she pulled over, Macke told Marquez she had been speeding. Yet, she claims the trooper only asked for her driver’s license, but not her registration and insurance cards.

Macke then asked Marquez if she had a “green card,” according to the suit. “Ms. Marquez understood the request to be for documentation demonstrating her immigration status,” it states.

Marquez gave Macke her U.S. government-issued work permit. He then turned his attention to her passengers and questioned them about their immigration status, the ACLU claims. It contends the trooper asked them if they were “legal or illegal.” The suit states that Macke told the passengers it was “his right to ask for immigration papers.” The trooper also said he was “working with Immigration” and he threatened to call the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service, the ACLU contends.

One passenger, Eduin Cambar Matute, Marquez’s partner, gave Macke his Honduran identification card, his library card and a bank card, the suit states. The other, Marquez’s adult son Lovos, produced his Salvadoran passport.

Macke then had Marquez get out of the SUV and questioned her about the immigration status of the two men, the ACLU claims. Marquez claimed the trooper never asked about any traffic violations.

About an hour after the stop began another trooper arrived and led the two men away in handcuffs, the suit states. Marquez claims Macke told her they were arrested because they “did not have papers.”

Only then did Macke give her a citation for speeding, Marquez contends.

The two men ended up in ICE custody in the York County Prison, were subject to removal proceedings and were released weeks later after posting thousands of dollars in bonds, according to the suit.

The ACLU contends the Mack only stopped Marquez’s SUV because of the “race, color or Latino appearance” of its occupants, an act that constitutes racial discrimination. Therefore the stop also violated the U.S. Constitution’s prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure, it claims.

The duration of the traffic stop amounted to an “unlawful prolonged detention” as well, the ACLU asserts.

Marquez and her passengers seek unspecified monetary damages and payment of their legal fees.