Lawsuit: ICE Raids in Alabama Target U.S. Citizens

A class action filed by a Baldwin County concrete finisher challenges DHS policies that allow warrantless raids and preemptive detentions.

Oct 01, 2025

AN ALABAMA CONSTRUCTION WORKER and U.S. citizen has filed a sweeping class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging that federal immigration agents twice detained him during workplace raids in Baldwin County despite clear proof of his citizenship.

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The suit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, comes from Leonardo “Leo” Garcia Venegas, a 26-year-old concrete finisher who was born in Florida and has lived in Robertsdale, Ala., since he was a teenager. Venegas is represented by the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm, and seeks to block what he and his lawyers describe as “unconstitutional and illegal immigration enforcement tactics” that have swept up not only undocumented workers but also U.S. citizens and legal residents.

Venegas V Homan Et Al

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The Raids

According to the 89-page complaint, Venegas was detained twice in the spring of 2025 while working on private residential construction sites owned by national developers D.R. Horton and Lennar. In both cases, heavily armed immigration agents—some masked and in camouflage—entered fenced-off job sites without warrants, targeted Latino workers, and ignored posted “No Trespassing” signs.

May 21, 2025: Venegas and his crew were laying foundations in Foley, Ala., when agents stormed the site. Video captured by a coworker shows Venegas forced to the ground as he shouted, “I’m a citizen!” Despite producing his Alabama REAL ID license—which is only issued to U.S. citizens and legal residents—agents dismissed it as fake, handcuffed him, and held him for more than an hour in the sun before verifying his Social Security.
June 12, 2025: Less than a month later, agents detained Venegas again while he was working alone inside a partially built home in Fairhope. Surrounded by officers, he once again presented his REAL ID, only to be told it could be fraudulent. He was released after 20 to 30 minutes when agents confirmed his citizenship.

Both incidents left Venegas shaken. “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. The Constitution protects my ability to do that.”

The Legal Claims

The lawsuit names a long list of federal officials as defendants, including Tom Homan, Trump’s White House border czar; DHS Secretary Kristi Noem; Attorney General Pam Bondi; ICE, CBP, FBI, ATF, and U.S. Marshals officials; and five unnamed immigration. It challenges three Department of Homeland Security policies that plaintiffs argue blatantly violate the Fourth Amendment:

Warrantless Entry Policy – allowing immigration officers to raid private construction sites without consent or warrants.
Preemptive Detention Policy – authorizing the roundup of workers based on appearance, particularly Latinos in construction, without individualized suspicion.
Continued Detention Policy – permitting agents to hold workers even after they provide lawful proof of citizenship or residency, including REAL IDsgov.uscourts.alsd.76579.1.0.

The complaint describes these policies as part of the administration’s push for a daily deportation quota of 3,000 arrests nationwide—policies that, by design, sweep up U.S. citizens and lawful residents in dragnet.

Broader Impact

The suit seeks to represent three putative classes of construction workers—citizens, lawful permanent residents, and other lawfully present migrants—who face the same risk of wrongful detention. It asks the court to vacate the DHS policies, enjoin future raids under them, and award damages for violations of constitutional rights.

Industry leaders say the raids have already chilled Alabama’s booming construction market. “Their head’s on a swivel because they’re so concerned any minute they may get raided,” said Tim Harrison of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama in an interview cited in the complaint.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Stakes

The case arrives just weeks after the Supreme Court allowed workplace stops in Los Angeles to proceed, suggesting that the legal fight over Trump’s mass raid strategy is far from over. Venegas’s suit could set a precedent: whether the federal government can deputize thousands of officers to storm private worksites and detain people based on how they look, or whether the Fourth Amendment still draws a line around the American workplace.

As Venegas’s lawyers put it: “Immigration officers are not above the law. Leo is a hardworking 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.”

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