A federal judge has allowed a lawsuit centring on US citizen ICE detentions to proceed, ruling against the Trump administration’s attempt to have the case thrown out. The claimant, Leo Garcia Venegas, has been arrested by federal immigration officers three times in under a year, each time presenting a valid Alabama REAL ID, and each time being refused release on those grounds alone.
Venegas was born in 1999 in Lehigh Acres, Florida, making him a natural-born United States citizen of Mexican heritage. He moved to Alabama at age 14. He now works in construction in Baldwin County.
Three Detentions, One Recurring Legal Question
The first incident occurred on 21 May 2025. Venegas was laying foundations for a new home in Foley, Alabama, when, according to the Institute for Justice complaint, five armed, camouflaged officers jumped a property-line fence and ran towards construction workers on site. After one officer physically assaulted his brother, Venegas began filming. An officer grabbed him by the arm. ‘Don’t touch me! I’m a citizen!’ Venegas said. ‘I’ll show you my papers now! I’m a citizen!’ Three officers pinned him to the ground.
Officers accused Venegas of carrying a forged ID and placed him in handcuffs. Only after he pleaded for more than an hour in the Alabama heat did an officer phone to verify his Social Security number. He was released without charge.
Three weeks later, masked federal officers entered a partially constructed home where Venegas was working alone, again without a warrant. Once more, they told him his REAL ID could be fake and was insufficient proof of citizenship. He was again released once officers confirmed his status.
The third detention came on 2 May 2026, this time outside his own home. Officers parked in front of the property, pulled him from his car, tackled him to the ground, and handcuffed him. According to Alabama Reporter, he was also shackled and locked in the back of a vehicle. Officers again refused to accept his REAL ID. Testifying in court, Venegas told the judge: ‘I don’t feel free.’
The REAL ID Argument at the Heart of US Citizen ICE Detentions
The government’s defence has rested substantially on the reliability of REAL ID-compliant documents. Acting assistant special agent Philip Lavoie testified that ‘REAL ID can be unreliable to confirm U.S. citizenship,’ according to Reason. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) elaborated in court that states can issue REAL ID-compliant cards to non-citizens, meaning the document cannot, in the government’s view, be treated as definitive proof of lawful presence, as Biometric Update reported.
The complaint counters that DHS policy expressly authorises immigration officers to continue detaining a person even after they produce a REAL ID or other evidence of legal presence. Venegas argues that policy constitutes an unreasonable seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
DHS has also argued that construction workers have no reasonable expectation of privacy on privately owned building sites, a position that would bear directly on whether the warrantless entries were lawful.
The Case and Its Defendants
Filed on 30 September 2025 in the Southern District of Alabama, the action is styled as a class action. Named defendants, according to the case docket held by the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, include White House Border Czar Tom Homan, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, the Department of Justice, the DHS, and various federal agents. Venegas is represented by the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law firm.
Chief District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock, who was assigned to the case on 2 October 2025, presided over the hearing in Mobile and issued the ruling allowing the claim to continue, according to the CourtListener docket for Venegas v. Homan. The administration’s motion to dismiss was rejected on 3 September 2026, subject to any onward appeal.
Institute for Justice senior attorney Jared McClain described the decision as ‘an important first step.’ He added: ‘We know the [DHS] thinks it can raid construction sites without a warrant, round up all the workers, and refuse to credit their government-issued IDs. Now we’ll have the chance to prove these violations of the Fourth Amendment.’
The central question before the court, whether presenting a government-issued REAL ID creates a constitutional floor below which detention cannot continue, will now proceed to the next stage. The administration’s position, if upheld, would effectively grant officers discretion to detain citizens indefinitely pending independent verification, regardless of documents produced at the scene.
