Immigration officials detained a US citizen during a raid on a construction site, as video footage showed numerous officers rushing to handcuff the man while others shouted in his defense
A US citizen was detained during an ICE raid at a construction site and claims he was ‘tackled’ and ‘handcuffed, hard,’ as police accused his REAL ID of being a fake.
Leonardo García Venegas, 25, was detained at the Foley, Alabama, site where he was working as ICE agents raided the place. A video of the incident aired by Telemundo showed the scene as authorities on the site had García Venegas bent over while multiple officers rushed over to put handcuffs on him, and someone yelled in the background, ‘he’s a citizen!’
Garcia was kept in a vehicle until officers released him. He says he took out his wallet and ID and showed them his REAL ID.
“They took out my wallet, took out my ID,” he said in an interview. “And they told me it was fake. Said it wasn’t valid and that it was fake. My ID. They handcuffed me, and they handcuffed me really tight.”
“Very hard.”
“Apparently, a REAL ID is not valid anymore. He has a REAL ID,” his cousin Shelah Venegas said.
García Venegas was born in Florida to Mexican parents and is a US citizen.
“We all made sure we have the REAL ID and went through the protocols the administration is asking for….. He has his REAL ID, and then they see him, and I guess because his English isn’t fluent and/or because he’s brown, it’s fake, it’s not real.”
The arrest left Venegas shaken, but mostly afraid for his brother, who is in the country illegally and was arrested and detained.
Venegas says he wants to sue but was told by lawyers that prosecuting a federal agent would be nearly impossible.
Pigs just gotta be pigs. ICE will be reformed only from top down, by rolling heads. Once enough people are fed up with their Gestapo behavior, it will happen.
https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/citizen-detained-immigration-officials-who-35283394