USA Citizen Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez Held as Alien Despite Judge Accepting Proof of Citizenship

Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, who was born in the USA state of Georgia, was arrested as an illegal alien after Florida Highway Patrol stopped a car in which he was a passenger, and was kept as such after a judge accepted his birth certificate as evidence of citizenship.

He was charged with a misdemeanor for entering Florida as an unauthorized alien.

This is the second time Immigration and Customs Enforcement has tried to get him in less than a week. On Sunday, the sheriff’s office in Grady County, Georgia, where he lives, charged him with driving under the influence. ICE tried to take him then, but his birth certificate and Social Security card got him released.

This time he was arrested in Florida using a law that was signed 14 February 2025, but federal District Court Judge Kathleen Williams issued an order barring the state from enforcing it since 4 April 2025.

Under the suspended law, it would be a misdemeanor for an undocumented immigrant adult to knowingly enter Florida “after entering the United States by eluding or avoiding examination or inspection by immigration officers.”

Arresting, charging and detaining him under the barred law would have violated the court order if he had been an illegal immigrant. Wielding the suspended law against a citizen is even worse.

Leon County Jail refused to allow his mother Sebastiana to see him.

He was only allowed to appear virtually at a court hearing. In the courtroom, community advocate Silvia Alba waved his birth certificate on his behalf. Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans examined it and his Social Security card.

Riggins declared, “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 found no probable cause for the charge against Lopez-Gomez, but she was unable to order his release. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had put a 48 hour detainer order on him to be held until they could take him. As a result, the state prosecutor declared Riggins did not have the power to release him.

Riggins said she was sorry. Lopez-Gomez’s mother left.

The driver of the car in which Lopez-Gomez was riding and the other passenger were arrested on the same charges using the same law Florida is currently barred from enforcing. The driver was also charged with driving without a license.

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