A U.S. Citizen Is Suing ICE for Arresting Him Twice. He Just Got Arrested a Third Time.
· Reason
An Alabama construction worker who is suing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after he was arrested twice last year, despite being a U.S. citizen, was shackled and detained by federal immigration officers for a third time earlier this month, according to court documents.
In a declaration filed in federal court, Leo Garcia Venegas said he was parking in front of his house in Silverhill, Alabama, on the morning of May 2 when an unmarked SUV blocked him in. Venegas claimed that before he could hand his Alabama-issued REAL ID to the two federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers who approached him, they pulled him out of the truck he was driving and handcuffed him.
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What makes the incident extraordinary is that Venegas is the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit challenging DHS' immigration enforcement policies, and it was the third time he's been handcuffed and detained by ICE agents. Venegas was detained twice in 2025 during raids on private construction sites where he was working, even though he had a REAL ID identifying him as a U.S. citizen.
The Institute for Justice, a libertarian-leaning public-interest law firm, filed a class-action lawsuit last October on behalf of Venegas and other construction workers seeking to stop "dragnet raids" that target Latinos without any probable cause besides their ethnicity. Venegas and the Institute for Justice argue that DHS policies allow immigration agents to illegally raid private construction sites, detain workers without reasonable suspicion, and continue detaining them even after they offer evidence of citizenship or legal status.
Jared McClain, an Institute for Justice attorney, says that Venegas' third detention "shows that federal officers are enforcing immigration laws in the unconstitutional way we alleged in our lawsuit."
"It's arrest first, ask questions later," McClain continues. "These aren't the brief investigatory stops based on individualized suspicion that the Supreme Court has allowed."
According to Venegas' May 4 declaration, he'd been driving his brother's old truck to work since late April, when his truck broke down, and the plates were still registered in his brother's name. When the ICE officers approached the truck, Venegas said he knew from his previous encounters that he needed to prove he was a U.S. citizen as soon as possible, but the officers never gave him a chance.
"Still without asking me a single question or issuing any lawful commands, the officers pulled me out of my car, tackled me to the ground, and shackled me around both my arms and legs," Venegas' declaration said. "The officers did not listen when I said I was a citizen and they showed no interest in looking at my Alabama Star ID, even though it is a REAL ID issued only to people who can prove their lawful status."
Venegas' declaration says he was shackled and detained for roughly 15 minutes before the officers verified his identity using DHS technology.
"At no point prior to physically detaining me did the officers ask me any questions about my identity, my citizenship, or my immigration status," Venegas' declaration continued. "They did not ask me to step out of the car. They did not even look at my ID before using physical force against me even though I had it in my hand."
Although Venegas' lawyers concede that officers could have conceivably had reasonable suspicion for the initial stop because Venegas was driving his brother's truck, they argue the officers had no right under the Fourth Amendment to continue to detain him while refusing to consider credible evidence of his identity and citizenship.
The Institute for Justice argues that DHS has a standing national policy of preemptively restraining suspected illegal immigrants and refusing to treat any government-issued IDs as valid evidence of lawful status during these immigration stops.
Indeed, a DHS official said in a declaration filed in Venegas' suit last year that "REAL ID can be unreliable to confirm U.S. citizenship." In a court filing in response to DHS, the Institute for Justice noted how incredible this position is. "REAL IDs require proof of citizenship or lawful status," the Institute for Justice wrote. "DHS is the very agency responsible for certifying that REAL IDs, including Alabama's STAR IDs, satisfy this requirement."
McClain said the Institute for Justice is seeking a preliminary injunction to block these policies "because Leo needs to be free to earn an honest living without fear that he'll be dragged off his work site in handcuffs based on how he looks. Anytime Leo is working on a construction site or driving the truck he uses for work, he risks being tackled and shackled by officers trained to violate his rights."
In response to a request for comment, DHS appeared to deny that Venegas was ever detained by the ICE officers.
"Leonardo Garcia Venegas was NOT detained last week," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. "On Saturday, May 2, ICE conducted a routine vehicle stop on a car registered to an illegal alien. After Venegas' identity was established, he was released."
The DHS Office of Public Affairs did not immediately respond to a follow-up question asking how officers could release someone they had not detained.
The DHS spokesperson also called allegations that it engages in racial profiling "disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE."
"What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S.—NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity. ICE has authority for lawful arrests under 8 USC 1357," the statement continued. "DHS is NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake. DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence. We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability."
However, ProPublica identified at least 170 Americans who'd been detained by ICE in an investigation published last October. For example, George Retes, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran, was tear-gassed and jailed for three days last July during an immigration raid in California. He says he was never allowed a phone call while he was incarcerated. The Institute for Justice is also representing Retes in a lawsuit against the U.S. government.
In the Florida Keys, a man filed a complaint to DHS last month after a Customs and Border Protection officer allegedly entered a private construction site and put a gun to the head of one construction worker.
"Despite being clearly informed by an employee that the location was private property and that trespassing was prohibited, Agent [Bruno] Cabral became visibly enraged," the complaint said, according to KeysNews.com. "He breached the property's fence line, and entered the private workspace without a warrant, probable cause or self-identification…. Upon entering the property, Agent Cabral approached the workers. Without any provocation or threat, he drew his loaded service firearm on a compliant employee's head with physical contact, according to the employee and witness accounts."
According to that complaint, all the construction workers were legal residents.
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