Leonardo Garcia Venegas was born in Florida. But that didn’t stop immigration agents from handcuffing him, throwing him to the ground, and accusing him of carrying a fake ID during a raid on his job site in Alabama.
Garcia Venegas, 25, was working a construction job in Foley when federal agents stormed the site as part of an immigration crackdown. When he pulled out his phone and started filming them arresting other workers, agents turned on him.
Video from the scene shows three officers pinning him down as he shouted, “I’m a citizen!”
In an interview with Telemundo, Garcia Venegas said officers took his wallet, pulled out his Real ID—a federally approved driver’s license—and told him it was fake.
“They cuffed me,” he said. “They put the cuffs on quite hard.”
Four people were arrested that day, including Garcia Venegas’s undocumented brother. Garcia Venegas, a U.S. citizen, was detained for hours before he was released. He said agents only uncuffed him after he gave them his Social Security number to prove his citizenship.
“I feel really sad, honestly, and I feel a bit nervous for everything that’s happening,” he said.
His cousin, also a U.S. citizen, told Telemundo that both of them went through the required process to get Real ID. “I feel sad because, even though we were born here, that doesn’t matter any more,” she said. “To have our skin color has, apparently, become a crime.”
The Department of Homeland Security later told NBC News that Garcia Venegas had “interfered” with the operation.
“Anyone who actively obstructs law enforcement in the performance of their sworn duties, including U.S. citizens, will of course face consequences which include arrest,” the agency said in a statement.
It’s still unclear whether the agents who detained him were from ICE, local law enforcement, or another federal agency. Under the Trump administration, multiple federal agencies and local police have been involved in immigration enforcement actions.
Garcia Venegas isn’t the first citizen caught in the government’s immigration dragnet—and he may not be the last. Under Trump’s promise of “mass deportations,” U.S. citizens have been swept up before— some even deported. That includes children.
