A Baldwin County man has filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Homeland Security over recent immigration checks.

Leonardo Garcia Venegas, who works in construction within Baldwin County, filed the lawsuit in the Southern District of Alabama this past Tuesday, arguing the raids violated the Fourth Amendment rights of him and others. In addition, he is also suing for assault, battery, false arrest and false imprisonment by ICE agents.

According to the lawsuit, Venegas alleged he was wrongfully detained during two ICE raids that took place in May and June. Venegas, who doesn’t speak fluent English, said during those raids that his REAL ID providing proof of his citizenship was either questioned or denied by immigration officers.

“In a span of just over three weeks across May and June 2025, Leo experienced two raids on private construction sites where he was working — one on a site owned by D.R. Horton and the other on a site owned by Lennar,” the lawsuit states. “Both times that Leo’s worksite has been raided, immigration officers entered the property without a warrant and detained Leo just for showing up to work and trying to earn an honest living.”

According to the filing, Venegas is a natural-born U.S. citizen with Mexican heritage, having been born in Florida and lived in Robertsdale since the age of 14 when he and his family moved there. He has been working in construction since graduating from high school in 2018.

The lawsuit comes amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdowns across the United States, with the class action lawsuit specifically challenging the policies and procedures of immigration officials under the Trump administration, allowing agents to execute raids and detain individuals without a warrant.

“As Leo’s experience shows, these unlawful policies have real consequences for innocent, hardworking Americans,” the lawsuit states. “Leo was born in this country. Construction work is his career — it’s how he supports himself as he pursues the American Dream. And when he goes to work on private property, Leo expects the freedom, as an American, to work in peace. Yet, twice, Leo got the opposite: Immigration officers, wielding an overly broad grant of authority but no warrant, raided the private construction sites where Leo was working and rounded up all the workers who looked Latino — even citizens, like Leo, who had done nothing wrong. Leo deserves better. And under the Fourth Amendment and federal laws that constrain immigration enforcement, he is entitled to better.”

Venegas has been working with the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm, since June to file the lawsuit. The lawsuit lists high-ranking officials within the Trump administration as defendants, including White House border czar Tom Homan, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Mobile FBI Special Agent In Charge Sara Jones was also listed as a defendant among others.

GCM has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Institute for Justice for comment.