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As immigration raids<\/span> have swept the country, it\u2019s not just immigrants<\/a> who have been kidnapped<\/a> and detained. American citizens have also been caught up in the Trump administration\u2019s draconian policies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Leonardo Garcia Venegas, a US citizen living in Alabama, was forcibly detained in May by immigration authorities<\/a> while at a construction worksite. When confronted, Garcia Venegas told authorities that he was a citizen and showed them his Alabama REAL ID<\/a>, his lawyers claim. But that didn\u2019t stop the authorities from tackling Garcia Venegas to the ground and putting him in handcuffs, they allege. In a court filing, Garcia Venegas says that he was kept handcuffed in the back of a car \u201cin the hot Alabama sun\u201d for over an hour.<\/p>\n Less than a month later, Garcia Venegas says, he was detained again at a worksite. While he wasn\u2019t handcuffed this time, immigration authorities ignored the fact that Garcia Venegas told them he was a citizen and again presented them with a REAL ID, his lawyers claim.<\/p>\n Garcia Venegas is now suing the government. In his court declaration, Garcia Venegas says that an officer told him his ID was \u201cfake.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think that if you fit the demographic profile that they’re targeting and you are a citizen, [authorities] view the 30 minutes or three hours or three days that you spend in custody as just a necessary cost of the current enforcement system and the quotas and the bonuses and everything that goes along with that,\u201d says Jared McClain, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, which is representing Garcia Venegas.<\/p>\n \u201cAllegations that DHS law enforcement officers engage in \u201cracial profiling\u201d are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S.\u2014NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity. Under the fourth amendment of the U.S. Constitution, DHS law enforcement uses \u201creasonable suspicion\u201d to make arrests. There are no \u201cindiscriminate stops\u201d being made. The Supreme Court recently vindicated us on this question. DHS enforces federal immigration law without fear, favor, or prejudice,\u201d assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS Tricia McLaughlin tells WIRED.<\/p>\n Cases like this one are unfortunately not unique. According to reporting from ProPublica<\/a>, at least 170 US citizens have been detained by immigration authorities through the first nine months of 2025. And this could all get much worse: The US government is rapidly combining data across federal agencies that could put a lot more people, including US citizens, in the crosshairs of its harsh immigration policies.<\/p>\n