US citizen thrown to the ground, handcuffed by immigration officials; they dismissed his Real ID as ‘fake’

A US-citizen was arrested by immigration officials this week — with authorities insisting that his Real ID’ was fake. Videos of 25-year-old Leonardo Garcia Venegas being thrown to the ground and handcuffed have since gone viral on social media platforms. The Trump administration however insists that the Alabama resident ‘obstructed’ their efforts to detain another person and refused to comply with verbal instructions.

According to reports, Venegas was at his construction job in Foley when officials arrived to arrest some of the workers. He had begun filming the arrests with his mobile phone before officials reportedly knocked the device out of his hand. Visuals shared online showed the ICE officials wrestling Venegas to the ground, holding his neck and pushing him down on his knees, while he repeatedly yells that he is an US citizen.

He later told Spanish-language US news outlet Telemundo that officials had taken out his wallet and removed his ID — only to claim that it was fake. Four people were arrested from the job site, including Venegas’ undocumented brother. Real ID is the document US citizens are required to keep and show in order to travel through airports or enter federal buildings. It is considered to be a high-security form of ID.

“They cuffed me. They put the cuffs on quite hard,” Venegas recounted.

Officials eventually released him — hours later — after using his Social Security number to verify his citizenship. It remains unclear whether the officials who cuffed Venegas were local authorities, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or other members of federal law enforcement.

The US Department of Homeland Security later accused Venegas of ‘interfering’ with the arrest during their operation without elaborating. Reports quoted DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin as claiming that Venegas had “physically got in between agents and the subject they were attempting to arrest and refused to comply with numerous verbal commands”.

“Anyone who actively obstructs law enforcement in the performance of their sworn duties, including US citizens, will of course face consequences which include arrest,” the DHS added in a statement to NBC News.

Venegas has denied the claims, telling NBC that he had been trying to take out his phone when an agent took it from him and threw it to the ground.