ICE Detains US Citizen Leo Garcia Venegas Three Times—He’s Suing to Stop the Harassment

Leo Garcia Venegas just wants to live his life in peace. But ICE keeps making that impossible.

On May 2, 2026, Venegas was driving home in Silverhill, Alabama, when an unmarked vehicle began tailing him. As he parked, plainclothes officers in tactical gear surrounded him, yanked him from his truck, and shackled him without asking a single question. Despite showing his Alabama STAR ID, Venegas was ignored and detained briefly. The agents claimed the stop was because the car was registered to his undocumented brother. After dogs sniffed his truck for drugs, he was released—but the trauma remained.

This was not the first time. In fact, it was the third time ICE had detained Venegas, a 26-year-old US citizen born in Florida to Mexican parents. Twice before, ICE raided the construction sites where he worked, rounding up Latino workers indiscriminately and detaining Venegas despite his citizenship. Each time, he was released only after proving his status. Each time, the message was clear: being American is no shield against ICE’s overreach.

“I live in constant fear that I will be subjected to further baseless detentions just for going about my daily life,” Venegas said in a declaration filed with his lawsuit. “I only wish to live my life in peace.”

Venegas’s case is far from unique. ProPublica found that at least 170 US citizens were wrongfully detained by immigration agents during the first nine months of Trump’s second term. His lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of Alabama, accuses the Department of Homeland Security of authorizing unconstitutional raids on private construction sites without warrants or reasonable suspicion. The complaint describes ICE officers targeting Latino workers en masse, detaining citizens and lawful residents alike.

Video footage from the first raid in May 2025 shows agents dismissing Venegas’s ID as fake, forcing him to the ground while he protests his citizenship. The Department of Homeland Security responded by accusing him on social media of obstructing an arrest and refusing orders—a narrative sharply at odds with the video evidence.

Venegas’s attorney, Jared McClain of the Institute for Justice, calls him “just a normal everyday guy” trying to earn an honest living. But ICE’s aggressive tactics have turned daily life into a minefield of fear and harassment.

This lawsuit is about more than one man’s ordeal. It challenges a systemic abuse of power that undermines the rights of US citizens and lawful residents alike. As immigration enforcement continues to prioritize intimidation over due process, Venegas’s fight is a crucial stand for accountability and justice.

We’ll be watching closely as this case unfolds. Because when the government can detain a citizen repeatedly without cause, nobody is truly safe.