An Alabama construction worker and US citizen who was detained twice by immigration agents within weeks has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration’s workplace raids. Leo Garcia Venegas, a concrete worker born in the United States, claims the enforcement tactics are unconstitutional and illegal.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday with the Institute for Justice, demands an end to raids that target industries with large immigrant workforces without warrants or individual suspicion. Venegas lives and works in Baldwin County, Alabama, a rapidly growing Gulf coast area with abundant construction work.
The Department of Homeland Security dismissed the suit as “race-baiting opportunism”, asserting that agents use “reasonable suspicion” and do not target based on skin colour, race or ethnicity. However, the department did not explain why Venegas, a US citizen, was detained twice.
During a May raid, video shows Venegas being forced to the ground by agents as he insisted he was a citizen. The lawsuit claims agents detained only Latino-looking workers. Venegas was released after more than an hour, despite showing his Alabama-issued Real ID—a high-security licence for citizens and legal residents—which agents said was fake.
Less than a month later, Venegas was detained again at another construction site. “It feels like there is nothing I can do to stop immigration agents from arresting me whenever they want,” he said in a statement. “I just want to work in peace.”
“Immigration officers are not above the law,” said Institute for Justice attorney Jaba Tsitsuashvili. “Leo is a hard-working American citizen standing up for everyone’s right to work without being detained merely for the way they look or the job that they do.”
