Gina Martinez holds a photograph of her daughter Giovanna Hernandez Martinez after Mass on Sunday, August 10, 2025. Civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups have filed open records requests with law enforcement agencies to get additional information on her arrest and detention along with the detention of other individuals. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector)
Civil rights groups have filed public information requests on agreements between local Alabama law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on enforcing immigration laws.
In November, the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice; the Hispanic and Immigrant Center of Alabama and the Center for Constitutional Rights, civil rights and immigration advocacy groups with offices in Alabama, filed public information requests to review agreements and payments between ICE and the Baldwin and Pickens sheriffs’ offices and the Leeds Police Department.
“We picked places where we knew there was new activity or increased activity, and where there were a lot of question marks,” said C.J. Sandley, senior staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights. “There were some high-profile incidents that covered different areas of the state.”
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The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office said that they were in process of having the request reviewed by the attorney.
“The majority of the request is going to be overly broad based on our statutes here,” said Maj. Tony Nolfe of the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office. “A lot of it as well would be the responsibility of our partner agencies, like the federal government as opposed to us. It is in the process.”
Messages were left with other agencies seeking comment.
The requests are seeking documents that are related to any of the agreements between the federal agencies such as ICE related to the 287(g) program that authorizes the sheriffs and police departments to enforce the nation’s immigration laws on behalf of the federal government.
The records requests are also seeking payments between the local law enforcement agencies and ICE; Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Marshal Service. Groups also want information about ICE accompanying local law enforcement as they perform their duties.
The records request to the Leeds Police Department sought communication regarding traffic stops, investigations and detentions on Aug. 5,the day that an officer for the Leeds Police Department pulled over Giovanna Hernandez Martinez for allegedly speeding.
The officer asked for her driver’s license, but Martinez produced an identification card that was issued in Mexico. The Leeds Police Department then reached out to immigration agents and had Martinez taken into custody and taken into the Pickens’ County Jail before getting transferred to the custody of ICE. After weeks in custody, where her family said she lacked access to health care, Martinez went to Mexico, a place she had not been since she was seven years old.
The groups also requested communications between the Leeds Police Department and the federal government pertaining to another unnamed incident on Oct. 28.
The groups are also seeking information regarding individuals who were detained at the Pickens County Jail who were in custody of ICE dating back to Nov. 5.
Groups are asking the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office for records that deal with law enforcement activity over immigration raids that took place at different construction sites on May 21 and June 12, along with the same information that was requested from the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office.
Based on the timeline, the requests for information relate to Leonardo Garcia Venegas, an American citizen who was born in Florida and moved to Alabama, who was placed in ICE detention twice after immigration agents raided construction sites.
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Author: Ralph Chapoco