A Trump-appointed federal judge has torn into the Department of Homeland Security’s reason for twice detaining a U.S. citizen during immigration raids.
Jeffrey Beaverstock ruled Monday that video footage did not show Leo Garcia Venegas interfering while his brother was being grabbed and thrown to the ground by federal agents–despite the government claiming he had.
“The video does not show Venegas attempting to verbally or physically interfere with the other detention in any manner,” the Chief U.S. District Judge wrote after Garcia Venegas sued the Trump administration with the help of the Institute for Justice.
Going further, Judge Beaverstock found the government offered “no factual support whatsoever” for why officers reasonably believed Garcia Venegas “may be an alien.”
Garcia Venegas, 26, was born in Florida and works in construction in Baldwin County, Alabama. During a May 2025 raid, agents tackled and handcuffed him after he began filming his undocumented brother’s detention, according to the court record.
Garcia Venegas repeatedly shouted that he was a citizen. Officers pulled his Alabama REAL ID from his pocket but told him it was fake and detained him for more than an hour before verifying his citizenship.
Garcia Venegas was never charged, but was detained again the following month while working inside a partially built home. He again produced his REAL ID before officers took him to an unmarked vehicle and held him for up to 30 minutes.
The government acknowledged it had “no information whatsoever” about that second detention but argued agents had reasonable suspicion based on their training and experience.
The judge was deeply unimpressed. “The Court is simply not inclined to take the Government’s word for it,” he wrote.
Beaverstock, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Trump and confirmed in 2018, issued the findings as he temporarily blocked three alleged DHS policies governing immigration enforcement at private construction sites.
He temporarily stayed alleged policies allowing agents to enter private construction sites without warrants or consent, detain workers without particular suspicion that they are undocumented, and hold them after they provide evidence of citizenship or lawful presence.
The government argued that the three policies do not exist—but also claimed that blocking them would hamper immigration enforcement.
Beaverstock said that made no sense, writing that “it defies reason” to claim stopping nonexistent policies would affect its operations.
The Department of Homeland Security has been contacted for comment.
