Lawyer for US-born citizen detained by ICE disputes that he was interfering with agents
An attorney representing a U.S.-born citizen who was twice detained by immigration authorities in recent months is disputing the government's contention that Leonardo Garcia Venegas was detained because he interfered with agents who were making an arrest.
Garcia Venegas, who was born in the United States, was detained in May at an Alabama construction site by armed agents in camouflage who "went straight for the Latino workers," his attorneys claimed in a lawsuit filed against the federal government this week that accuses authorities of violating the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
According to the suit, Garcia Venegas was detained again two weeks later on another private construction site "when another immigration patrol saw him working and assumed, without reasonable suspicion, that Leo was undocumented," the suit said.
Jaba Tsitsuashvili, an attorney for the Institute for Justice, told ABC News' Kyra Phillips on Thursday that Garcia Venegas "just wants to work in peace."
"Two times now, immigration officers have barged onto work sets where he was working and detained him without any reason to think that he had done or was doing anything unlawful," Tsitsuashvili said. "The first time, they violently tackled him to the ground, kept him in handcuffs for over an hour, and then he had to take two, almost two weeks off from work because he was so terrified and traumatized by what happened. He was scared to go back."
"Finally, he gathers up the courage to resume working after a couple of weeks. And it turns out his fears were justified, because it happened again," said Tsitsuashvili, who said that immigration officers entered a nearly fully constructed house where he was working and forced him outside.
"As the last time, he showed him his Real ID and said, 'I'm a citizen,'" Tsitsuashvili said. "They refused to accept it. They refused to believe it, and again, they marched him down several blocks where they kept him detained for this time, for about a half an hour, and they finally released him without any apology, without any explanation."
"Both times he showed them the officers his Real ID; both times they said, 'We don't care. We're going to keep you detained anyway,'" Tsitsuashvili said.
A statement released Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security said that during a targeted worksite operation, "Garcia Venegas attempted to obstruct and prevent the lawful arrest of an illegal alien."
"He physically got in between agents and the subject they were attempting to arrest and refused to comply with numerous verbal commands," the statement said. "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."
Asked about the DHS statement, Tsitsuashvili said the accusation was not true and pointed to videos that were shot during one of the incidents.
Garcia Venegas was recording several yards away from where law enforcement was attempting to detain someone, Tsitsuashvili said, and the video "shows Mr. Garcia being kind of violently tackled to the ground and then led away."
Tsitsuashvili also said another video of the incident was "shot by other construction worker bystanders who were not Latino and were not in any way targeted by the officers."
In the proposed class action complaint filed on Mr. Garcia's behalf, the lawyers claim that "DHS authorizes these armed raids based on the general assumption that certain groups of people in the industry, including Latinos, are likely illegal immigrants."
"ICE does NOT arrest or deport U.S. citizens," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Wednesday. "Any U.S. citizens arrested are because of obstructing or assaulting law enforcement."
