US Citizen Wrongfully Detained by ICE Three Times in Six Months Files Lawsuit

On the morning of May 2, 2024, Leonardo Garcia Venegas was driving home from a convenience store in Silverhill, Alabama, when he noticed an unmarked vehicle following him. As he parked his truck outside his home, immigration officers approached and attempted to open the driver’s door.

In a sworn declaration submitted as part of a civil lawsuit, Garcia Venegas stated that the agents forcibly removed him from the vehicle, pinned him to the ground, and shackled his arms and legs. He estimated that seven or eight law enforcement personnel—including US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and local police in plain clothes with tactical vests—surrounded him. The officers did not ask him any questions.

Garcia Venegas, a 26-year-old US citizen born in Florida, said he attempted to show his Alabama STAR ID as proof of citizenship, but the agents ignored his efforts. They placed him in the back seat of a vehicle, questioned him about his place of birth, and searched his wallet. He offered to retrieve his American passport from inside his house, but the agents refused. Minutes later, they released him—after having dogs sniff his truck for drugs.

According to the declaration, the officers told Garcia Venegas he had been stopped because the truck was registered to his brother, who is undocumented. ICE did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

This was not Garcia Venegas’ first encounter with ICE. Court filings indicate that the May 2 incident marked his third detention by immigration agents in six months. His parents are originally from Mexico.

Previously, ICE agents had detained Garcia Venegas twice during raids on construction sites where he was working. Each time, he was released after proving his US citizenship. The third detention, he wrote in his statement, caused him significant emotional distress and anxiety.

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

His experience reflects a broader pattern. During the first nine months of the second Trump presidency, at least 170 US citizens were held by immigration agents, according to a ProPublica review of cases from 2023. Garcia Venegas filed a lawsuit against the federal government in September 2023 over his arbitrary detentions.

“Leo is just a normal everyday guy who is trying to go about his life quietly and peacefully,” said Jared McClain, an attorney with the Institute for Justice representing Garcia Venegas. “He just wants to go to work and earn an honest living, and the way that the administration is handling immigration enforcement means that he can no longer do that freely.”