Federal Judge Halts ICE Construction-Site Policies After U.S. Citizen Was Detained Twice

Chief U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Beaverstock on September 21 stayed three ICE practices at construction sites — warrantless entry, preemptive detainment and continued detainment — finding them likely unlawful. The suit was brought by Leonardo Garcia Venegas, a Florida-born U.S. citizen detained at private construction sites in Baldwin County on May 21 and June 12 even though he showed a STAR ID, which officers said “could have been fake.” Beaverstock noted that white and Black workers on the site were not detained and found the government’s safety rationale “unsupported by the record.”