An Alabama construction worker is taking legal action against federal immigration authorities after being arrested and detained twice by ICE, despite being a U.S. citizen with a valid REAL ID in his pocket. The lawsuit, filed today in the Southern District of Alabama by the Institute for Justice, challenges warrantless construction site raids and racial profiling of Latino workers.
“It feels like there is nothing I can do to stop immigration agents from arresting me whenever they want,” said Leo Garcia Venegas, the lead plaintiff. “I just want to work in peace. The Constitution protects my ability to do that.”
The civil rights lawsuit argues that Department of Homeland Security policies permit immigration agents to raid private construction sites, detain workers without reasonable suspicion, and continue holding them even after proof of citizenship is shown. These practices, Venegas and the Institute claim, violate the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
“Armed and masked federal officers are raiding private construction sites in Alabama, detaining whoever they think looks undocumented, and ignoring proof of citizenship,” said Jared McClain, an attorney for the Institute for Justice. “That's unconstitutional, and this case seeks to bring that practice to an end.”
Venegas was first detained on May 21, while working on a concrete crew in Baldwin County. Masked ICE officers entered the private site without a warrant and selectively targeted Latino workers. According to the lawsuit, officers ignored white and Black workers and went straight for Latinos. When Venegas began filming the scene, an officer told him, “You're making this more complicated than you want to,” before grabbing him. Another officer ordered, “Get on the fucking ground,” as Venegas repeatedly protested, “I'm a citizen.” He was detained for over an hour in the summer heat, despite presenting a REAL ID.
The second incident occurred on June 12 at a nearly finished house. Venegas and two other U.S. citizens were cornered and detained for 20–30 minutes while ICE officers questioned the authenticity of their IDs. Again, Venegas was eventually released after verification of his social security number.
The lawsuit asserts that these incidents are not isolated. Under current DHS policies, officers are allowed to assume construction workers are undocumented based solely on demographic profile and occupation, ignoring evidence such as citizenship and identification.
The suit seeks to halt enforcement of these policies and requests damages for Venegas and a proposed class of similarly affected workers.
Venegas’ case is part of a larger pattern. The Institute for Justice is also representing George Retes, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran, who was pepper-sprayed and detained for three days in California despite lawful status. Additionally, in Southern California, five U.S. citizens filed a lawsuit after ICE and Border Protection agents wrongfully detained them, including Cary Lopez Alvarado, who was nine months pregnant and allegedly went into premature labor following her arrest.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court upheld racial profiling by immigration officers, overturning a Ninth Circuit ruling. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote, “As for stops of those individuals who are legally in the country, the questioning in those circumstances is typically brief, and those individuals may promptly go free after making clear to the immigration officers that they are U.S. citizens or otherwise legally in the United States.”
Venegas, however, says reality paints a different picture: “The raids continue in the neighborhoods. I live in fear every day that when I get to work it will happen again.”
Originally reported by C. J. Ciaramella in Reason.
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