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MOBILE — A hearing was held Wednesday, May 27, at the U.S. District Court in Mobile involving Leo Garcia Venegas, a Baldwin County man whom immigration officials have detained three times the last year.

Venegas, represented by the Institute for Justice, filed a lawsuit in September 2025 challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) immigration enforcement practices. He is requesting a preliminary injunction against DHS related to immigration enforcement at job sites, accusing immigration officials of violating his and others' constitutional rights.

Venegas, 26, was born in Florida and lives in Silverhill, having lived in Alabama for 12 years while working in construction for six years. Venegas was first apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a raid at a construction site in Foley on May 21, 2025.

Cell phone footage of the incident, which the Institute for Justice released online, shows Venegas being forcibly detained by ICE agents while he and others shout that he is a U.S. citizen. During the raid, officials also arrested Venegas’s brother who was living in the country illegally and has since been deported to Mexico.

In his lawsuit, Venegas alleges officials refused to accept his Alabama-issued REAL ID, dismissing it as fake. He also alleges that only Hispanic workers were targeted by officials while his white and Black co-workers were left alone.

The second incident occurred on June 12, 2025. Venegas was alone in a house installing concrete screws when ICE agents entered the property. Venegas, speaking through a translator, testified he pulled out his ID but that agents told him it didn’t matter. He said the encounter lasted around 20 minutes while officials verified Venegas’s citizenship. He was not handcuffed.

The third and most recent incident occurred on May 2. Venegas was driving home when he said he noticed a car was following him. When he pulled into his home, ICE agents surrounded him and detained him, handcuffing his hands and feet. Venegas testified he was handcuffed for around 25 to 30 minutes while his citizenship was verified and a K-9 unit sniffed his car for drugs.

The car he was driving during the incident was a 2004 Ford F-150, which was registered to his brother, who was deported. Venegas said he drives the car to go shopping and occasionally to drive to work when he is running late. He testified that he did not change the registration because he thought as long as he had a license, he would be OK.

Venegas has not received any criminal charges following his encounters with immigration officials.

Though he is still working, Venegas said his experiences have impacted his daily life. He said he doesn’t feel safe driving and that the immigration raids have impacted his job.

“There’s been a huge change,” Venegas said outside the courthouse on Wednesday. “A lot of work isn’t getting done because there’s people who are really scared to go into work because of immigration.”

CASE CHALLENGES DOCUMENTAL EVIDENCE HANDLINGS

Venegas’s lawsuit comes as President Donald Trump’s administration continues its nationwide immigration crackdown. Since the beginning of his second presidency, the administration has deported around 230,000 people who were arrested within the country and another 270,000 at the border, according to a New York Times analysis of federal data in January 2026.

Southern District of Alabama Judge Jeffery Beaverstock, a Trump appointee, previously ruled that Venegas has enough legal standing to sue. If Venegas's injunction request is granted, it could eventually be used as precedent for similar cases nationwide, but this ruling would only apply to construction sites within the jurisdiction of the South District of Alabama.

Another construction worker, Gehovani Alvirde-Ruiz, testified to support Venegas's case with his similar experiences with immigration officials in Jefferson County. Despite having a green card and Social Security card, he told the court that officers said his documents “were the best fakes they had ever seen” and demanded to know where he purchased them.

The government’s lawyers objected to Alvirde-Ruiz’s testimony, arguing his encounter occurred outside Southern District of Alabama jurisdiction, but Beaverstock allowed it to proceed, with plaintiffs arguing it is relevant because it involved immigration agents’ handling of documental evidence of legal status.

Alvirde-Ruiz said he works throughout Alabama and was recently in Mobile for a construction project at the University of South Alabama.

Venegas’s lawyers told the court they are seeking an order challenging three immigration enforcement policies: to prohibit government officials from entering private construction sites without a warrant; to prohibit immigration officials from detaining workers without a “particularized suspicion” involving a specific person(s); and to require agents to immediately release anyone who shows a REAL ID driver’s license.

Philip Lavoie, special agent in charge of immigration enforcement within the Southern District of Alabama, testified for the defendant's side that agents conduct immigration enforcement operations at construction sites and other locations based on tips and other information DHS receives. He also testified that immigration officers tried to deescalate the situation before detaining Venegas during their first encounter on May 21, 2025 in Foley.

When presented with cell phone footage of the Foley encounter, there was nothing audibly present indicating agents requested Venegas show identification before he was wrestled to the ground. Lavoie insisted there was “a lot of context missing,” saying there was more to their interaction that happened before the video starts.

Lavoie testified his agents have to confirm someone’s citizenship even when presented with a REAL ID. He said there have been cases of immigrants living in the country illegally who have had valid ID.

When pressed by Venegas’s lawyers, Lavoie said his employer, DHS, is responsible for verifying REAL IDs before they are issued by states, and he said that each state has its own REAL ID compliance laws, but couldn't answer if any states have issued them to illegal immigrants.

Even Beaverstock questioned the government regarding REAL IDs, saying it was a difficult experience getting his own Alabama STAR ID license and questioned how places like airports can accept REAL IDs more efficiently than immigration officials.

There was also debate on whether immigration officials had a right to raid the construction site Venegas was working on without a warrant. The site was surrounded by a black, silt fence, with Venegas’ lawyers stating "no trespassing" signs were posted. However, there was no gate, and Beaverstock questioned Venegas’s team on how the short silt fence could be seen as a security fence.

The government’s lawyers argued that a “no trespassing” sign shouldn’t prohibit law enforcement from entering a place if illegal activity is occurring, though Beaverstock questioned the government’s interpretation of illegal activity, pointing out that being an undocumented immigrant is a civil offense, not a criminal one.

Beaverstock had “a lot of questions” about Venegas’s third encounter outside his home, such as if it was just a matter of Venegas not seeing the officers' lights come on, something he said he had seen before. Venegas's lawyers argued that the encounter is meant to show a repeated pattern of how the government’s immigration policies have affected people like Venegas.

Beaverstock did not immediately make a ruling. He said there is “a lot to go through.”

Jared McClain, senior attorney representing Venegas, said following the hearing that he anticipates a ruling in around two weeks following a briefing period.