USA Citizen Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez Belatedly Released from Detention as an Illegal Alien

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After the story of his birth certificate, Social Security card and a judge affirming his citizenship were not enough to get him released from detention as an illegal alien, blossoming news coverage and public outrage ensued, and Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez was released.

He said, “I feel fine leaving that place, I felt bad in there. They didn’t give us anything to eat all day yesterday.”

The Florida state trooper who arrested him wrote in his report that Lopez-Gomez said he was in the country illegally but gave the trooper his ID. The report does not mention his Social Security card, although Lopez-Gomez said he showed a copy of it.

It is not clear why he is required to return to the Leon County Courthouse on 6 May after Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans ordered the charge against him dropped. Florida is currently barred by federal court order from enforcing the law under which it arrested and charged him.

His mother Sebastiana Gomez-Perez says the family will sue over his wrongful arrest and detention. She also expressed gratitude for support from the public. “I don’t have a way to pay all the people who are helping us. People from other states have called us, and we don’t have a way to pay them; we can only thank them.”

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