American Citizen Detained Three Times by Immigration Agents Despite Proof of Citizenship

U.S. citizen Leonardo Garcia Venegas was pulled from his car and shackled by immigration agents this month, an experience he described as exhausting rather than surprising. This marks the third time Garcia Venegas has been detained by authorities despite his citizenship.

Last fall, ProPublica reported on Garcia Venegas’ first two detentions. In one incident, he was filming his brother’s arrest during a raid on their coastal Alabama construction site when agents tackled him, ignoring his repeated claims of citizenship. A few weeks later, officers entered the home Garcia Venegas was building and dismissed his Alabama REAL ID—a credential only available to citizens and legal residents. Videos of both incidents went viral, and Garcia Venegas later testified before Congress and filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

On May 2, agents followed Garcia Venegas home and again refused to accept his REAL ID as valid proof of citizenship. The latest detention has left him demoralized, with ongoing anxiety about when it might happen again.

“Honestly, it feels terrible,” Garcia Venegas told ProPublica. “I drive to work every morning and I know, at any moment, they could pull me over again.”

Ongoing Mistaken Detentions Despite Official Denials

While immigration enforcement has faded from headlines, Garcia Venegas’ case underscores how mistaken detentions of American citizens persist despite congressional scrutiny and denials from senior officials. Days after Garcia Venegas’ latest detention, masked agents tackled an American teenager in the Bronx. After realizing their mistake, they left him in an unfamiliar neighborhood, injured and disoriented.

During a border security conference in Phoenix held the same week, administration officials downplayed reports of mistaken detentions. Matthew Elliston, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official, stated:

“Since the start of this administration, we have not had any arrests of U.S. citizens for false identification, where we thought they were an illegal alien but they were actually a U.S. citizen. That’s happened zero times.”

Todd Lyons, then-head of ICE, acknowledged in another panel that agents sometimes detain American citizens in cases where those citizens allegedly “put hands on law enforcement.” He also described such arrests as a “deterrent.”

However, ProPublica and other outlets have documented cases where citizens accused of assaulting officers were not charged, and video evidence contradicted claims of attacks on agents.

Government Response and Legal Challenges

In response to inquiries from ProPublica, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson issued a statement claiming Garcia Venegas was “NOT detained,” asserting that ICE conducted a routine vehicle stop on a car registered to an illegal alien. The statement did not address Garcia Venegas’ repeated presentations of his REAL ID or the fact that he is a U.S. citizen.

Garcia Venegas’ case remains unresolved, with his lawsuit against the Trump administration still pending. The repeated detentions highlight ongoing concerns about immigration enforcement practices and the treatment of American citizens caught in the system’s crosshairs.