A U.S.-born citizen who was wrestled into the dirt, handcuffed and detained in a vehicle as part of an immigration raid had a REAL ID on him that was dismissed as fake, the man’s cousin said Friday.
Video of the arrest, aired by Noticias Telemundo, showed authorities grabbing Leonardo Garcia Venegas, 25, while at a job site in Foley, Alabama, on Wednesday and bending his arms behind him. Someone off-camera can be heard yelling, “He’s a citizen.”
Garcia told Noticias Telemundo that authorities took his ID from his wallet and told him it was fake before handcuffing him. REAL ID is the identification U.S. citizens are required by law to have in order to travel through airports and enter federal buildings. It is considered a higher security form of identification.
“Apparently a REAL ID is not valid anymore. He has a REAL ID,” his cousin Shelah Venegas said. “We all made sure we have the REAL ID and went through the protocols the administration is asking for. … He has his REAL ID and then they see him and I guess because his English isn’t fluent and/or because he’s brown it’s fake, it’s not real.”
Garcia had told Noticias Telemundo that “they grabbed me real bad” and the handcuffs were placed “very hard” on him.
Garcia said he was released from the vehicle where he was held after he gave the arresting officials his Social Security number, which showed he is a U.S. citizen.
The arrest has left Garcia, who was born in Florida, shaken, particularly because the officers also arrested and detained his brother, who is not in the country legally, Venegas said. She added that Garcia lived with his brother. Their parents are from Mexico.
Leonardo Garcia Venegas.Telemundo
“He was actually pretty sore when he got back,” Venegas said of Garcia. “He said his arms were hurting and his hands. His wrists, you could see where he had all the marks from the handcuffs. … The way they put him on the ground, his knees also were hurting.”
She said they have been trying to find a lawyer but local ones have told them that it is nearly impossible to sue a federal agent. It is not clear from the video whether the authorities were federal immigration agents or local law enforcement carrying out enforcement duties.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to NBC News that Garcia interfered with an arrest during a targeted worksite operation.
“He physically got in between agents and the subject they were attempting to arrest and refused to comply with numerous verbal commands,” said Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary. “Anyone who actively obstructs law enforcement in the performance of their sworn duties, including U.S. citizens, will of course face consequences which include arrest.”
The response did not address the dismissal of Garcia’s identification.
Garcia denied that he interrupted an arrest. He told NBC News that he was trying to take out his phone when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent took it and threw it to the ground and then an agent began grabbing him.
Venegas said Garcia’s brother has signed deportation papers because the family didn’t want him detained “forever” as they’ve seen happen to another family member, who was held for months in a Louisiana detention center.
“It’s inhumane, what they are doing to our people. They are treating them as if they were murderers,” she said.
Venegas said the immigration arrests are creating repercussions among Hispanics, even among U.S. citizens.
“It’s about race now. It’s not about whether you are here legally or not,” she said.
Her family owns a fairly large contracting company, she said, “and a lot of the people that work with us are not working. … They are refusing to go to work. They said they are not going to go until this stuff calms down.”
Venegas added that the majority of her family is self-employed and “we do the same thing every other citizen does.”
“It’s just insane we can’t be different, the color that we are. We contribute to this country the same way every other citizen does with their taxes,” she said. “But we have to be the ones that every time we go to work, we are going to be scared that we’re going to get discriminated.”
“I think about my family,” she said. “Even though a lot of them are citizens, I think about how we all work in the same area in construction and they can’t sit out there because they could literally get harassed or attacked the way my cousin did.”
ICE wrestled Alabama worker to the ground & detain him for hours—he is a U.S. citizen.
Young man was begging & shouting, "I am a U.S. citizen"—but that didn't stop ICE agents from dragging him off to a detention center.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth went off on the acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff amid a search for a leaker at the Pentagon, according to a report published Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.
The paper said Hegseth was “rattled” after word got out last month that the Pentagon was set to briefElon Musk on China, where the Tesla CEO has three factories. President Donald Trumpdenied the report the next day. However, Axios later reported that Trump had canceled the briefing while asking, “What the fuck is Elon doing here?”
During his search for the leaker, Hegseth erupted at Admiral Christopher Grady, who was then the acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
“I’ll hook you up to a f——-g polygraph!” Hegseth shouted at the admiral, the Journal reported, according to two people familiar with the interaction. The secretary demanded proof that Grady was not the source of the Musk leak. Grady was never polygraphed. Hegseth reportedly threatened others with a polygraph test, including Lt. Gen. Doug Sims, the Joint Chiefs director.
The report is just the latest trouble for Hegseth. After a slog of a confirmation fight that ended with the vice president casting the tie-breaking vote, the secretary has only provided his detractors with fodder. Last month, it was revealed that Hegseth shared looming plans for airstrikes in Yemen with more than a dozen administration officials in a Signal group chat. This week, it was reported that he shared the same plans in another chat with his wife, brother, and lawyer. It was also reported that Hegseth set up a makeup studio at the Pentagon to be used ahead of television appearances, which Hegseth denied. Last week, Hegseth lost four staffers amid what one Pentagon official called “chaos” at the department. And on Thursday, the Associated Press reported that Hegseth used “an internet connections that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer,” according to two sources.
For its report, the Journal said the Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.
I love how Rev. Ed Trevors looks at other faiths and religions. They are not a threat to him, his religion, nor his god. I personally think if a person’s faith doesn’t harm others and helps them it is grand even if I don’t believe the same way. If you get benefit from your faith, your god, your religion and cause no harm to others … and maybe even helps other then it is a grand thing. Remember even though I am an atheist I was rescued at 17 yrs old by a very devout Christian. He did not turn his back on an abused kid like so many others did. So I don’t, do not, believe that religion poisons everything. It is like everything else in life it is how you use it that makes it good or bad. If you use your faith, your god as a crutch for your own hate, if you claim your deity hates others based on who you hate … then you are not following the Christian Jesus but maybe the one that tempted him. As Belle and Beau say … It is just a thought. Hugs.
By my dogs that love gravy I like this man’s message. I enjoy listening to him as he asked everyone including the Christians to love each other, to be kind to each other. He reaches even a complete atheist like me. The fact is you can gain more converts, more adherents to your view with kindness and joy, than you will ever be able to do with anger, hate, and force. This man will bring far more people to Jesus and to the principles that Jesus taught than the Christian nationalist hate preachers ever will even if they get their way. No law forcing a person to sit in a pew can ever make them believe the stuff that is against the inborn idea of fairness, kindness, respect for others … or as someone said treat others as you would like to be treated. Period. The saying was not treat others the way you want to be treated only if they are like you, only if they believe as you do, only if they are the same skin color or the same sexual orientation. Treat everyone as you would like to be treated. Hugs
What he really means in the story below is that many people surging into the work force will depress wages and make workers even more desperate to get and keep a job no matter how bad or low wage it is. Hugs
Megan Kelly who made her fame by writing a book about the sexual harassment / abuse at Fox Is trying to give a boost to a man who paid a woman he sexually abused and harassed. Everything Hegseth is accused or from adultery, sexual assault, and his excesses alcohol problem are all court-martial offenses. He would be in charge of people that if they did what he did they would face demotion, jail time, loss of money, and more. How he can be in that position if republicans really respect and care about the military they wouldn’t even let this guy near the job. Hugs
In the below story notice two things. He is picking Fox entertainment rage TV people to be in his cabinet because he is a media made billionaire personality and he loves the showmanship. That is what made him a great con man and politician is his love of the camera and the attention, he glories in it.
Read the full article. In 2017, Crowley registered as a foreign agent for a pro-Putin Ukrainian billionaire after withdrawing from consideration from a national security post when her book and PhD thesis were hit with accusations of plagiarism. She first appeared here when she spread claims that Barack Obama is secretly Muslim. Crowley is a Project 2025 contributor.
In this post notice the attack on immigrants along with the outright lies about no deaths. Anything for the maga base and the authoritarian fascist government is grand. Why? For me the question is why does the internet troll Marge want to see the tRump proclaimed goals? White supremacy! She is from a deep Georgia community that has long felt that the white people were superior to others. So white people attacked the capital and attempted to destroy democracy so what, they were white. Not those filthy non-white people who keep coming here trying to make our white supremacy culture less supreme. Hugs
The story below shows how desperate the right is to please donors by cutting the domestic spending part of the government. That is the part of the government that helps the people but puts nothing in the pockets of the wealthy. They fail to understand that the main function of the government is to promote the common good and the welfare of the people. From the preamble itself. … (P)romote the general Welfare … That means the government is to help the people. The reason the treasury is so shy of money is that the republicans when in power keep giving more of the general revenue generated in the US to the most wealthy instead of helping the general welfare with such as infrastructure, what the people need, and common defense. Basically so people understand every time the republicans reduce the corporate tax rate, the taxes charged against realtors, the taxes charged against wealthy people, the tax rate of wealthy estates, they are robbing from the US people and public all that money to run the country and help the public. Just like other countries of advanced incomes do. Which is why the republicans demand they stop doing it as it makes the US look bad for being a profit is king country. Hugs
The story below shows how fundamentalist Christians and right wing bigots attack the LGBTQ+ for being different and not following their faith … but at the same time they don’t live up to their own faiths doctrines. Hugs.
Read the full article. Yager first appeared here in 2020 for his successful bill that forces public schools to allow kids to miss class for up to one hour each day in order to attend church. Along with raft of anti-trans legislation, most recently Yager voted for a bill allowing county clerks to refuse to officiate same-sex marriages.
“The plans could mean that thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of migrants would be permanently displaced in countries where they do not know any of the people or the language and have no connection to the culture.”
The Diapered Rapist a fucking idiot, who can’t handle a task a 6 year old can manage.
Read the full article. Boyd is now claiming that he was referring to a “bundle of sticks,” telling reporters “look it up in the dictionary.” Video of the exchange is below. Boyd, not incidentally, was named to Trump’s “South Carolina Leadership Team.”
Where are the pro left progressive big money trying to promote progressive ideals? This is why the right so often win, their big money backs them no matter what. Hugs
This is the woman on a crusade against the first trans person in the House of Representative also used to support the trans people. Her entire thing is being the center of attention. That is her entire goal. Hugs.
Read the full article. Roberts, who had threatened violence if Trump did not win, appeared here earlier this week when he called for seizing the endowments of public and private universities if they don’t hew to Trump’s anti-diversity edicts and end the “woke mind virus.”
Just how insecure are these republican people demanding everyone but themselves be Rambo and Chuck Norris in some super action movie. It is a stupid throw back to the religious stereotype of men and women they want to force the country into. The idea that men are always he-man moneymakers and women are all attractive women waiting at home to serve their man after cleaning their home and making their meals all day. Give it up already. The goat herders in the deserts of the Middle East may have felt that way over 2500 years ago but we know better now. Hugs
A man from racist South Africa who feels non-white people don’t have enough authority and black people have too many rights is pushing hard to repopulate the world with his and other wealthy white men’s sperm. Say what? Yes Musk is on record saying that he needs to father as many children as possible to ensure the white race continues. Similar to what Jeffery Epstein felt as he raped multiple young girls. Look these facts up and stop admiring these trust fund wealthy kids of exploiters. Hugs
This short clip is great. The point she makes is the same one I made about the Democratic Party sliding right to get dissatisfied republican voters. Her point, we should have paid more attention to the people who left the Democratic Party than those who were never tRumpers or left the republican party due to tRump. Again it is the party of the working person not the party of republican lite. Hugs
While I find it easier to follow Sam’s reasoning on some issues, while he is out on funeral leave after his mother died, I am glad it is Emma explaining this. Listen to what tRump was saying about women. He wanted to see Harris in a ring getting beaten by Mike Tyson. He said he would protect women if they liked it or not. So she says two themes, I say three. She says fear stoking by bashing immigrants and misogyny. I say it was them plus racism. The first thing he said about her was she changed to being black for advantage, then started calling a black woman retarded. But if you remember the things he said about women in the 2016 election about Clinton and the grab them by the pussy tape. Sad that so many of our fellow people have these feelings in 2024. Hugs.
in this video both Matts are upset with the culture of democrats in office refusing to do what is needed instead patting each other on the back as infallible. Trump attacked both democrats and republicans who did not follow the ideas he pushed. Ideas that he felt people wanted, and it became true the more he said it. Even when they failed to actually help the lower incomes and did increase greatly the incomes of the upper incomes / very wealthy. They mention that again in 2023 the mean average income was lower than in 2019. Lower incomes are still losing and have been since the 1980s. While harder to listen too it is all about the conditions on the ground vs words used by democrat candidates. Brandon talks about the influencers on podcasts / social media. Matt Bender continues that conservation. Hugs
This video is about Joe Biden and him staying in until the last minute. How there was no primary and no time for Harris to introduce herself to the public. How Biden did not promote her publicly until he dropped out. How Biden kept her sidelines because her age made him look older by comparison. How the democrats need to do more to run to their extremer base like the republicans do. Hugs
In video Emma points out that the covid recovery plan of massive help for the lower incomes made the Biden administration very popular, but when that changed in 2022 for a more austerity program pushed by bipartisan republicans and Manchin / Sinema … or should I say by the republicans and Biden’s need for the feeling of bipartisanship. Once people realized again they wouldn’t be getting the help promised them by the democrats they again felt the democrats left them behind. The lower incomes feel betrayed by the democratic party and they feel used. Paid attention to only every four years and promised table scraps so the democratic candidate can keep the corporate dollars flowing. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 