Leo García Venegasa construction worker born in Lee County, Florida, filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The reason: it alleges that was arrested twice during immigration operations in Alabama, despite showing your official identification and proving your US citizenship.
The events occurred in May and June 2025, when García Venegas was working on private projects in Baldwin County. According to the complaint, Federal agents acted without a warrant and detained several employees “who looked Latino” without checking their documents before handcuffing them.
The case, now moving forward in the Southern District Court of Alabama, seeks to set a precedent against what the Institute for Justice calls “raids based on racial assumptions.”
“I just want to work in peace”: the two arrests that changed his life
The first arrest occurred on May 21, 2025 at a construction site in Foley, Alabama. Armed and masked officers stormed the site, jumped a fence and headed straight for the Latino-looking workers.
García Venegas showed his Real ID and Social Security number, but was handcuffed and held for more than an hour before being released.
Three weeks later, on June 12, the same pattern repeated itself. While working on a house in Fairhope, another operative stopped him again.
“I feel like I can’t do anything to stop the immigration agents from arresting me whenever they want. I just want to work in peace.”. The Constitution protects my right to do so,” he said in a statement released by his lawyers.
The lawsuit contends that both arrests violate the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which protects against arbitrary searches and detentions.
DHS denies racial profiling
After learning of the complaint, DHS Undersecretary Tricia McLaughlin He assured in statements to McClatchy News that ICE operations “are not based on people’s skin color or origin”.
According to the DHS, “what makes someone a target for authorities is their illegal immigration status, not their physical appearance.”
The department also called the lawsuit “racist opportunism” and rejected a report from The New York Times which mentions similar cases of US citizens detained during immigration raids.
In reference to the May 21 operation, he alleged that García Venegas “tried to obstruct a legal arrest.”
You may be interested in:
· Facts of the week in immigration: there is an escalation of ICE operations
· DHS condemns the disclosure of confidential information about law enforcement officials and threats to them
· Immigrant is detained and deported by ICE after suffering a schizophrenia attack