An Alabama construction worker and U.S. citizen who was detained twice by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers within weeks has filed a federal lawsuit in an attempt to stop the Trump administration from executing raids targeting immigrants at the workplace.
Leo Garcia Venegas, a concrete worker, filed the class action lawsuit on Wednesday, demanding an end to what legal documents allege are “unconstitutional and illegal immigration enforcement tactics.”
Venegas, who was born in the U.S and lives in Baldwin County, Alabama, claims in the lawsuit that he and others who live in the area have been targeted as a result of their heritage.
FILE: A Federal agent is photographed as ICE conduct raids on a local tire shop business in Colony Ridge, TX on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025.
Raquel Natalicchio / Getty Images
“The officers rarely (if ever) have reasonable suspicion to suspect that the people working on or managing a particular construction site are violating immigration laws. Instead, DHS authorizes these armed raids based on the general assumption that certain groups of people in the industry, including Latinos, are likely illegal immigrants,” Venegas’ lawyers wrote.
Baldwin County has offered an abundance of construction work opportunities in recent years, primarily due to a housing boom, according to the Institute for Justice. In recent months, it has also become a hotbed for ICE raids, according to the lawsuit.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
In it, the defendant claims that the raids that led to his arrest were “unreasonable” and in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
“DHS authorizes these armed raids based on the general assumption that certain groups of people in the industry, including Latinos, are likely illegal immigrants,” Venegas’ lawsuit claims.
“Once immigration officers are on a site, they preemptively seize everybody they think looks undocumented,” it continues.
The class action suit was filed on behalf of U.S. citizens and legal residents who, while working in construction jobs, have been subject to raids as part of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policy.
The filing claims that immigration authorities are enacting policies that “grant federal immigration officers sweeping search and seizure powers.”
On Wednesday, in a statement responding to accusations that ICE detains American citizens, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin denied that the immigration agency targets citizens, “We have said it a million times: ICE does NOT arrest or deport U.S. citizens.”
“Any U.S. citizens arrested are because of obstructing or assaulting law enforcement,” she added.
The lawsuit alleges Venegas was first arrested while working on a construction site in May by armed men dressed in camouflage.
“The officers ran right past the white and Black workers without detaining them and went straight for the Latino workers,” the lawsuit claims.
Two weeks later, Venegas was allegedly arrested for a second time on a different site by immigration officers who “assumed” that he was working without the correct documentation, the lawsuit states.
On both occasions, Venegas claims he told the officers he was an American citizen and presented them with valid identification, which he used as proof of citizenship and lawful residency.
“The officers still wouldn’t let him go,” reads the lawsuit, which gives 19 examples of citizens and lawful residents who have allegedly been arrested “in circumstances” similar to Venegas.
“As Leo’s experience shows, these unlawful policies have real consequences for innocent, hardworking Americans,” the lawsuit states.
In March, the Trump administration detained and deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 30, to El Salvador, despite him having obtained a work permit in 2019 and an existing court order blocking him from deportation due to credible threats of violence in El Salvador, his country of birth.
The administration later acknowledged that was “in error.”
After returning to the U.S. in June from a maximum security prison in El Salvador, he was detained again and held in a Tennessee jail on human trafficking charges, which he denies. The Trump administration has said it now intends to deport him to Uganda.
Abrego Garcia’s request for asylum was rejected on Thursday by a judge in Baltimore. Abrego Garcia now has 30 days to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, according to PBS News.
Abrego Garcia, his wife, an American citizen, and their children live in Maryland.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
