Judge Blocks Warrantless ICE Construction Site Raids After Agents in Alabama Arrested a U.S. Citizen 3 Times
· Reason
A federal judge has temporarily blocked tactics used by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct warrantless immigration raids on construction sites in southern Alabama in response to a lawsuit filed by a Latino construction worker who has been detained three times, despite being a U.S. citizen.
Visit amunra.help for more information.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Beaverstock issued a temporary stay Monday against several DHS policies being challenged by Leo Garcia Venegas, the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit filed last October by the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm. The suit seeks to stop "dragnet raids" that it alleges target Latino construction workers without reasonable suspicion and continue detaining them even after they offer evidence of citizenship, violating the Fourth Amendment.
Venegas, an Alabama construction worker and U.S. citizen, has been detained and handcuffed three times by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, even though he had a valid REAL ID on all three occasions. In two of those instances, masked immigration officers entered private construction sites without a warrant and allegedly began detaining workers based only on their apparent ethnicity. Venegas' third detention occurred after his lawsuit was filed.
"For the first time in a long time, I will be able to go to work without worrying that I will be arrested for no reason," Venegas said in an Institute for Justice press release following the court order. "Americans cannot be stopped and held by law enforcement when they are doing nothing wrong."
Although the case is limited in scope to several counties in southern Alabama, it concerns significant Fourth Amendment issues related to the Trump administration's nationwide immigration enforcement surge: whether immigration officers can enter construction sites without a warrant, whether construction employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy on the worksite, and whether officers can ignore legitimate IDs to continue an immigration stop.
On all those issues, Beaverstock ruled in favor of Venegas and against the government. Beaverstock wrote that he was "not convinced that a construction site, by its nature of being 'visible' renders it constitutionally subpar to other workplace environments where an expectation of privacy exists."
"As a result, the Court is satisfied that Venegas, an employee working at his place of work, has a reasonable expectation of privacy," Beaverstock continued. "Here, the nature of the worksite does not open the floodgates to warrantless government intrusion and there exists no justification to enter a construction site that is not open to the public to conduct warrantless seizure."
Nevertheless, Beaverstock did not grant full preliminary injunction being requested by Venegas, but rather a more narrow, temporary stay of DHS policies while his case is being litigated. The order specifically blocks DHS policies allowing immigration officers to raid private construction sites without a warrant or consent, preemptively detain employees without a particularized suspicion that they are illegal immigrants, and continue detaining workers even after they show evidence of citizenship or lawful presence.
Jared McClain, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, called the order "a huge blow to DHS's lawless enforcement practices."
"The government stood up in court and argued that they don't need warrants to enter private construction sites and round up all the workers, and that they can't trust government-issued IDs," McClain said in a press release. "By setting aside those unconstitutional policies, the court has restored the rule of law. Construction workers like Leo can finally go to work in peace again."
Institute for Justice attorneys argued that video evidence of Venegas' detentions, testimony from other cases around the country, and the Trump administration's own statements show that it's targeting the construction industry with warrantless searches and preemptively detaining anyone who looks Latino.
For example, a North Carolina man filed a claim in August seeking damages from the federal government, alleging he was arrested last year by immigration officers despite having a valid REAL ID, then dumped on the side of the road once the officers confirmed he was a U.S. citizen.
Venegas testified at a May court hearing that immigration officers detained him at the first construction site raid because he was trying to film his brother's arrest.
"I was trying to record, and then one of the agents came at me because he didn't like that I was recording him, and he tried to take my phone away," Venegas testified. "I kept yelling that I was a citizen, so another agent came and helped him, and they threw me on the ground. I yelled that I was a citizen, and they handcuffed me anyway."
"They pulled my wallet out of my pants, and they got my license out," Venegas continued. "They saw my license was a REAL ID, but they said it was fake."
Department of Justice attorneys argued that the alleged policies Venegas is challenging don't exist—and that even if they did, he wouldn't have standing to challenge them because he neither owns nor controls the construction site, which is akin to an open field where immigration officers don't need a search warrant to enter.
"As an initial matter, the Court is not persuaded by the Government's position that it never needs a warrant to enter a construction site," Beaverstock wrote, pointing out in a footnote that "this argument completely undermines the Government's position that it does not have a policy of entering the non-public areas of a construction site without a warrant or consent."
The DHS has also argued in court filings and testimony in Venegas' case that REAL IDs aren't reliable confirmation of citizenship, even though federal law requires states to verify citizenship before issuing them, and even though the DHS is the agency responsible for ensuring state compliance with the law.
Although the government pointed to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurring opinion in a ruling last year that allowed brief immigration stops based on factors like ethnicity and occupation, Beaverstock wrote that Kavanaugh's opinion in fact supported Venegas, since his detention wasn't brief and continued long after he'd produced evidence of citizenship.
"The record also reflects that Venegas was not promptly released following the production of his REAL ID to officers," Beaverstock wrote. "Instead, the officers disregarded the veracity of his documentation and continued to detain him. A policy that permits such action is likely to run afoul of the Fourth Amendment."
The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a previous statement provided to Reason, former DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called Venegas' lawsuit "baseless" and said it was "race-baiting opportunism" that contributed to an alleged 1,000 percent increase in assaults on ICE officers.
"Allegations that DHS law enforcement officers engage in 'racial profiling' are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE," McLaughlin said. "What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S.—NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity. Under the fourth amendment of the U.S. Constitution, DHS law enforcement uses 'reasonable suspicion' to make arrests. There are no 'indiscriminate stops' being made. The Supreme Court recently vindicated us on this question. DHS enforces federal immigration law without fear, favor, or prejudice."
The post Judge Blocks Warrantless ICE Construction Site Raids After Agents in Alabama Arrested a U.S. Citizen 3 Times appeared first on Reason Magazine.