Leo Garcia Venegas was working at a construction site in Alabama when two immigration agents ran up to him and wrestled him to the ground.
"I'm a citizen. I'm a citizen," he told them.
They didn't believe it. He was handcuffed and detained for an hour before being released -- with no apology, according to his lawyers.
"The officers have no warrant, they didn't know who Leo was and haven't seen him breaking any laws," said Janae Wilkerson of the public-interest Institute for Justice (IJ), which partnered with Garcia Venegas in filing a class action lawsuit in Alabama last week.
"When the officers checked Leo's Alabama-issued Real ID, they called it fake."
The incident occurred in May, in an area of Alabama where there is hot demand for new homes.
In June, it happened again.
"I was in