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Who is Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez? US-born man detained under Florida's new immigration law
Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen, remains in jail under an ICE detainer after a traffic stop led to his wrongful arrest.
On Wednesday, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen born in Grady County, Georgia, was detained under Florida’s immigration laws, charged with being an ‘unauthorised alien’ in the country even though he had a valid US birth certificate and Social Security card.
Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez's arrest came after a routine traffic stop by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, who pulled over the vehicle for speeding. He was a passenger in the car.
The trooper’s report notes he claimed Lopez-Gomez admitted to being in the U.S. illegally, even though he presented a Georgia state ID. That was enough for the officer to charge him under Florida’s newly passed immigration law, SB 4-C—a law that a federal judge had already blocked from enforcement earlier this month.
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Lopez Gomez's mom feels ‘immense helplessness’ after son's unlawful arrest
Now, Lopez-Gomez remains in the Leon County Jail in Tallahassee, held on an ICE detainer for 48 hours, even though the court dropped the misdemeanour charge. He appeared virtually in court for his initial hearing, while his mother, Sebastiana Gomez-Perez, watched on helplessly.
“I wanted to tell them, ‘Where are you going to take him? He is from here,” Gomez-Perez told Florida Phoenix in Spanish. “I felt immense helplessness because I couldn’t do anything, and I am desperate to get my son out of there.” She tried to see him at the jail but was turned away.
Jail officials said they were working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to determine what would happen next.
Judge LaShawn Riggans inspected Lopez-Gomez’s birth certificate and Social Security card. “In looking at it, and feeling it, and holding it up to the light, the court can clearly see the watermark to show that this is indeed an authentic document,” she said. Based on the charge, she ruled there was no probable cause to continue holding him.
“This court does not have any jurisdiction other than what I’ve already done.”
Lopez-Gomez's mother said he lived in Mexico from the age of one until four years ago, when he returned to Georgia. “It hurts so much. I’m sorry, I can’t,” Gomez-Perez said through tears.
This isn’t the first time Lopez-Gomez has been mistakenly flagged. Earlier in the week, he was arrested in Georgia on a DUI charge. ICE placed a detainer there, too,but released him when his family provided proof of citizenship. Now, the same documents weren’t enough in Florida..
