Leonardo Garcia Venegas was filming the arrests of his co-workers at an Alabama construction site when he, a US citizen, was detained by ICE (we think).*
He showed the officials his Real ID as proof of citizenship, but they called it “fake.”
Only after he provided his social security number and they confirmed his citizenship status did they remove the tight handcuffs and free him.
He was lucky in that regard, because another US citizen was detained by ICE and arrested. He also provided his social security number but they kept him in an immigration detention facility for 10 days even after confirming he was a US citizen.
Leonardo Garcia Venegas was born in Florida to parents from Mexico. He worked in construction and was at work in Foley, Alabama when immigration officials showed up to arrest undocumented workers.
(I’m sure the owner of the construction company was real happy about that.)
US citizen was detained by ICE —maybe?
*It’s unclear whether the officials were from ICE, DHS, or the local police department. The Trump administration has also deputized local sheriff’s offices to carry out immigration arrests.
“To have our skin color has, apparently, become a crime. And it has become a crime deserving of this type of treatment – as if we were real criminals.”
Editor: This story reminds me of the US citizen mother and 2 daughters who had their home raided in the middle of the night by 20 federal officials in Oklahoma. The woman said some wore identification from ICE, some from the US Marshals Service, and some from the FBI.
The local NBC News affiliate that covered the story contacted the agencies. Every agency claimed they weren’t involved, yet they destroyed her home, took all of their electronics and thousands of dollars in cash she had saved. Now she doesn’t know how to get any of it back—and from which agency?
Garcia Venegas and his cousin were interviewed by Telemundo. The Guardian reported some of the quotes from the interview:
“I feel really sad, honestly, and I feel a bit nervous for everything that’s happening,” said Garcia Venegas, referring to the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration-related crackdown.
His cousin, also a US citizen, said they both went through the process of acquiring the Real ID, undergoing “the protocols the administration is asking for”.
“I feel sad because, even though we were born here, that doesn’t matter any more,” the cousin said. She added: “To have our skin color has, apparently, become a crime. And it has become a crime deserving of this type of treatment – as if we were real criminals.”
