FOLEY, Ala. — A recent federal immigration raid at a Foley construction site has stirred confusion and fear across Alabama’s Hispanic community after a U.S. citizen was forcibly detained by agents despite presenting official identification.
Leonardo García Venegas, 25, was born in Florida and is a U.S. citizen. He was working at the site last Wednesday when federal immigration agents moved in. Video footage aired by Noticias Telemundo shows agents wrestling García Venegas to the ground and handcuffing him. García Venegas said he showed agents his REAL ID, a government-issued credential, but they dismissed it as fake.
García Venegas was released after providing his Social Security number, which confirmed his citizenship. His brother, who is undocumented, was also detained during the raid and later signed deportation papers to avoid longer detention.
The experience has left many local Hispanic workers and their families unsettled. García Venegas’s family said the incident has made people afraid to go to work, regardless of their legal status. “It has become a matter of race. It’s no longer about legal status,” a relative told NBC News.
The Department of Homeland Security said García Venegas obstructed an arrest by physically inserting himself between agents and another individual. García Venegas denied this, saying he was only trying to retrieve his phone when agents knocked it to the ground and detained him.
While immigration raids are not uncommon in Alabama, the detention of a U.S. citizen with valid identification is rare and has drawn sharp criticism. Historically, such incidents have been isolated, but recent crackdowns under broader immigration enforcement policies have led to increased fear and confusion among Alabama’s immigrant and Hispanic populations.
The story is gaining national and international attention, but for Alabama, it highlights the human cost of aggressive immigration enforcement and the surreal reality that even U.S. citizens can be treated like suspects in their own communities.