A U.S. citizen detained by federal agents during anti-immigrant raids of construction sites has filed a class action suit against the Trump administration on behalf of “all those who stand in his shoes” — U.S. citizens or those otherwise lawfully present in the United States who are working on construction sites in the Southern District of Alabama.
Leo Garcia Venegas, a U.S. citizen of Mexican descent, was born in 1999 in Florida, and moved with his family to Alabama when he was 14. He has worked in construction since he graduated from Alabama’s Robertsdale High School in 2018.
“I got arrested twice for being a Latino working in construction,” he said in a video posted by the Institute for Justice, which is representing Garcia Venegas.
Over the course of three weeks from May to June, federal officers raided two construction sites closed to the public in Baldwin County, Alabama, where Garcia Venegas was working, and detained him. Both times, they entered the property without a warrant, and both times, he told officers he was a citizen and showed them his REAL ID, according to the suit.
The suit says federal agents have conducted at least 17 warrantless raids on private construction sites in Baldwin County since January.
This year, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) eliminated a policy that had been in place for more than 15 years that required Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to identify the person they intended to arrest in advance, including their name, appearance, known addresses and employment, immigration history, and any criminal history. The request then had to be approved by a supervisor.
“Rather than relying on targeted investigations, Border Czar [Tom] Homan and [Department of Homeland] Secretary Kristi Noem have directed immigration officers to go on patrols to search for people who work in certain industries and fit a generalized demographic profile of an undocumented worker in that industry,” the suit says.
According to the complaint, DHS has adopted several unconstitutional policies that authorize immigration officers to raid private construction sites closed to the public, without a warrant, and then detain workers, even after they provide proof of their citizenship or lawful status. The suit asks the court to strike down the policies.
“Once immigration officers are on a site, they preemptively seize everybody they think looks undocumented,” the suit says. “And they detain these workers indefinitely — even those who have a REAL ID — until the officers eventually check the legal status of the people they’ve detained. Sometimes it takes 20 minutes; sometimes it takes days.”
Officers first detained Garcia Vinegas on May 21, when they raided a construction site in Foley, Alabama, according to the suit. The property had a “No Trespassing” sign posted and was enclosed by a black fence around the perimeter.
Garcia Vinegas was working on a concrete crew to lay the foundation for several new homes that were being built. All of the crew members, including Garcia Vinegas, were Latino. Five armed men in camouflage, including three who were masked, jumped over the fence and ran past the “No Trespassing” sign, according to the suit.
“The officers ran right past the white and black workers without detaining them and went straight for the Latino workers,” the suit says.
Garcia Vinegas’s brother, who was also working on the site, asked the officers if they had a warrant. Without answering, they pulled him to the ground. Garcia Vinegas began filming, and a short time later, an officer grabbed him by the arm.
“Don’t touch me! I’m a citizen!” Garcia Vinegas yelled.
The officer forced his arm behind his back and pushed him to the ground.
Garcia Vinegas repeatedly yelled, “I’m a citizen! Stop! I’ll show you my papers now!”
Two more officers then came over and helped restrain him, according to the suit.
“I’m a citizen! I’m a citizen! I’m a citizen!” he yelled from the ground.
A video shows the officers restraining Garcia Vinegas, who can be heard yelling, “I’m a citizen!”
The suit says that while they held Vinegas on the ground, one of the officers reached into his pocket to look for his identification. When they retrieved his REAL ID, the officers told him it was fake, handcuffed him, and took him to an unmarked car.
“They kept ignoring Leo’s pleas that he was a citizen,” the suit says. “The handcuffs were tight and painful, and Leo stood the entire time in the hot Alabama sun.”
He continued to tell the officers he was a citizen and begged them to check his social security number. An officer finally made a phone call, confirmed his social security number was valid, and Garcia Vinegas was released. He was detained for over an hour.
About two weeks later, Garcia Vinegas went through the same ordeal. On June 12, he was working inside a partially constructed home. The construction site was surrounded by a black perimeter fence.
While working in the bedroom, listening to music with his headphones on, he felt the presence of someone else in the room. He turned around and saw a masked, armed agent standing in the doorway, the suit says. When Garcia Vinegas asked why he was there, the officer responded in Spanish, and Garcia Vinegas told him he was a citizen.
Garcia Vinegas complied with the officer’s order to follow him outside. Once outside, the officer told him they had to check his immigration status. He told the officer he was a citizen, again, and showed him his REAL ID. The officers told him it could be fake, and ordered him to come to their vehicle so they could verify his immigration status. He was released about a half hour later. Along with Garcia Vinegas, at least two other workers on the site with lawful status were also detained and then released.
There have been numerous instances of federal agents harassing, abducting, and detaining U.S. citizens and those who have lawful status in the United States. In a lawsuit recently filed against the Trump administration on behalf of several D.C. residents, one of the plaintiffs, José Escobar Molina, was abducted as he was about to get into his truck to start his work day. Escobar Molina has had Temporary Protected Status (TPS) since 2001.
“The agents immediately handcuffed Mr. Escobar Molina, grabbed him by the arms and legs, and called him ‘illegal’ repeatedly,” the suit says. “When he responded that he has ‘papers’ (in other words, immigration status), they replied, ‘No you don’t. You are illegal.’”
He was detained and released the next day.
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