A proposed class action lawsuit filed on Tuesday in federal court alleges that a U.S. citizen has been illegally detained twice during immigration sweeps targeting Latino construction workers in Alabama. The lawsuit claims that federal agents refused to accept his valid documentation.
The suit names several Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Tom Homan, the former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) chief—currently serving as President Donald Trump’s “border czar”—who has been involved in previous controversies.
According to Bloomberg News, the litigation was brought on behalf of Leonardo Garcia Venegas, an American-born construction worker who says he was detained twice this year during workplace raids. During one incident, Garcia Venegas alleges that officers initially dismissed his identification document as “fake” and held him in handcuffs for more than an hour. Notably, the document in question was a “STAR ID” state driver’s license, which is only issued to U.S. citizens.
The lawsuit states, “The unlawful raids and detentions that Leo experienced were no accident. The officers were enforcing three policies adopted by the Department of Homeland Security that grant federal immigration officers sweeping search and seizure powers that violate the Fourth Amendment and exceed officers’ statutory and regulatory authority.”
Specifically, the policies authorize immigration officers to:
1. Raid non-public areas of private construction sites without consent or a warrant.
2. Preemptively detain workers on those sites without reasonable suspicion that they are undocumented.
3. Continue detaining workers even after they have produced evidence of their citizenship or lawful presence.
Furthermore, the suit argues that officers rarely, if ever, have reasonable suspicion that people working on or managing a construction site are violating immigration laws. Instead, DHS reportedly authorizes these armed raids based on the broad assumption that certain groups of people in the industry—particularly Latinos—are likely undocumented immigrants.
This lawsuit follows a recent Supreme Court decision last month, delivered through an emergency “shadow docket,” which ruled that federal agents in California may engage in overt racial profiling. Justice Brett Kavanaugh explicitly justified the ruling by stating that any U.S. citizens wrongfully targeted or assaulted during such profiling could seek remedy by suing the arresting officers.
The case highlights ongoing concerns about immigration enforcement policies, potential racial profiling, and violations of constitutional rights during workplace raids.
https://www.rawstory.com/alabama-immigration-lawsuit/
