On September 21, 2026, Chief U.S. District Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock of the Southern District of Alabama, a Trump appointee according to Courthouse News and Gulf Coast Media, temporarily stayed three Department of Homeland Security practices at construction sites. His order names them: a “Warrantless Entry Policy (permitting immigration officers to raid private construction sites without a warrant or consent),” a “Preemptive Detention Policy (permitting immigration officers to preemptively detain employees without a particularized suspicion that persons are illegal immigrants),” and a “Continued Detention Policy,” which lets officers keep “detaining workers even after they show evidence of citizenship or lawful presence.”
The plaintiff is Leonardo “Leo” Garcia Venegas, who, the order says, “is a U.S. citizen of Mexican descent who was born in Lehigh Acres, Florida, and lives in Robertsdale, Alabama.” He builds houses in Baldwin County. On May 21, 2025, at a Lennar site in Foley, the order describes officers “hurdling the fence and running past the No Trespassing sign” and running past non-Latino workers to reach the Latino crew. When Venegas filmed his brother's arrest, they “tackled” him, “told him his REAL ID was fake,” handcuffed him and held him “for over an hour.” He “had to take nearly two weeks off work to recover from the raid.” On June 12, 2025, at a D.R. Horton home in Fairhope, an officer “walked in the house and ordered Venegas outside,” and it took “about 20–30 minutes” to release him. He was “never charged with a crime.” The court found that video of the May raid did not show him interfering with his brother's detention.
The government's position was that it never needs a warrant to enter a construction site. The judge rejected it: “the Court is not persuaded by the Government's position that it never needs a warrant to enter a construction site,” and “there exists no justification to enter a construction site that is not open to the public to conduct warrantless seizure.” He found that “the Government offers no factual support whatsoever as to why officers reasonably believed Venegas 'may be an alien',” and of the government's account of the June stop wrote, “The Court is simply not inclined to take the Government's word for it.” On holding a man who had shown a valid ID: “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.”
DHS told the court the practices do not exist. Its official Phillip Lavoie declared, “I am not aware of any Warrantless Entry Policy, Preemptive Detention Policy, or Continued Detention Policy.” The judge answered the government's claim that a stay would hamper enforcement: “It defies reason then, that enjoining those polices would 'curtail' anything.”
The ruling is narrower than some headlines suggest. It is a temporary stay of the three policies, not an injunction; the court declined to issue a preliminary injunction, calling one “a drastic and extraordinary remedy,” and the finding is that Venegas is likely to succeed, not a final judgment. The suit, filed September 30, 2025 by the Institute for Justice against Tom Homan, DHS, the Justice Department, Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi and others, is a proposed class action on behalf of U.S. citizens and lawful residents in the Southern District of Alabama, and Courthouse News reports that “Class certification and other claims remain unresolved.” WEAR-TV notes the order “does not halt general federal immigration enforcement in Baldwin County or elsewhere.”
Many headlines say agents arrested him three times. The third encounter is disputed and is not part of the ruling. On May 2, 2026, months after he sued, he was stopped while driving his brother's truck in Silverhill. In a sworn declaration quoted by Reason he said “the officers pulled me out of my car, tackled me to the ground, and shackled me around both my arms and legs,” and he was held “roughly 15 minutes.” DHS's account: “Leonardo Garcia Venegas was NOT detained last week… On Saturday, May 2, ICE conducted a routine vehicle stop on a car registered to an illegal alien. After Venegas' identity was established, he was released.” ProPublica, Fox10 and AL.com also reported the stop.
DHS did not comment on the ruling. When the suit was filed, then-Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said allegations of racial profiling were “disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE” and called the case “race-baiting opportunism”; in May a spokesperson said, “DHS is NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake.” Institute for Justice attorney Jared McClain called the decision “a huge blow to DHS's lawless enforcement practices.” Venegas said, “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.” For other citizens swept up in enforcement, see Federal Agents Have Detained More Than 500 U.S. Citizens in Trump's Immigration Crackdown, ProPublica Finds.