Cotney and Fernandez Discuss Alabama ICE Enforcement Ruling

Adams & Reese attorneys Trent Cotney, Partner and Construction Team Leader in Tampa, and Mary Kate Fernandez, Business Immigration Associate in New Orleans, spoke with the Birmingham Business Journal to discuss Venegas v. Homan. The September decision from the Southern District of Alabama could shape immigration enforcement on construction sites and other workplaces.

Masked officers detained construction worker Leonardo Garcia Venegas at a private job site despite his valid Alabama STAR ID. A month later, officers again detained him under similar circumstances. The court granted a temporary stay, finding he was likely to prove the officers violated his Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

"We recognize that the holding is only good in that one court," Cotney said. "But I think the analysis and the reasoning would apply elsewhere and certainly we've already used it elsewhere". He explained that courts ask whether a reasonable person would believe they could enter a space, based on signage, fencing, and similar factors. The Venegas site had a "no trespassing" sign and was cordoned off.

Preparation is essential, Cotney said. Supervisors and project managers should carry wallet cards explaining how to respond if ICE arrives, and employees should know their rights to remain silent and to counsel. Immediately afterward, the person in charge should contact the home office, crisis team, and counsel, and photograph the warrant.

Fernandez noted that raids may draw the headlines, but the costlier risk often arrives by mail. "The other huge piece of this that is much more quiet and not noticeable, but much more expensive, is going to be this compliance investigation side," she said, pointing to more than 5,000 ICE notices of investigation in the first quarter of 2025 alone, compared with roughly 200 per year under prior administrations. She has spent much of the past two years advising construction organizations on the basics of Fourth Amendment law, the same guidance the Venegas court later applied. "If you can adhere to that for your job sites, legally you are supposed to be protected," she said. Demand for compliance counsel, from raid response plans to Form I-9 documentation, rose sharply in 2025 and continues in 2026, she added.

Looking ahead, Fernandez said the U.S. visa system effectively lacks a true labor visa. The H-2B visa covers temporary seasonal work, the H-2A visa covers temporary agricultural labor, and its cap is typically met within 24 hours of applications opening; demand for H-1B visas far exceeds that cap as well. "The American workforce is going to be so stressed and undermanned in the next 10 to 15 years as the boomers exit the workforce," she said, adding that "one of the only ways to address that is going to be immigrant labor."

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