A U.S.-born American citizen was being detained at the request of immigration authorities Thursday despite an advocate showing his U.S. birth certificate in court and a county judge finding no reason for him to be considered an “illegal alien” who illegally entered Florida.
Juan Carlos Gomez-Lopez, 20, was arrested Thursday evening by Florida Highway Patrol and charged under a state immigration law that has been temporarily blocked since early this month. Details of Gomez-Lopez’s arrest and detention were first reported by the Florida Phoenix news site.
After inspecting his birth certificate, Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans said during the hearing that “this is indeed an authentic document,” but that she did not have jurisdiction beyond finding no probable cause for the charge.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s role is to enforce immigration laws that generally apply to noncitizens. American citizens are protected under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution from unreasonable search and seizure, arrest and detention.
Nonetheless, he remains detained locally at ICE’s request, said Thomas Kennedy, a spokesperson at the Florida Immigrant Coalition who attended Thursday’s hearing.
“Everything tracks for him being sent to an ICE detention center,” he told NBC News in a phone interview.
NBC News has reached out to state and federal authorities for comment.
Gomez-Lopez was in a vehicle with other passengers and was traveling to work from Georgia when they were stopped after entering Florida.
A sweeping immigration law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023 makes it a state crime for an undocumented immigrant over age 18 to enter the state illegally.
Gomez-Lopez was born in Georgia but lived much of his life in Mexico. His first language is Tzotzil, a Mayan language, the Florida Phoenix reported.
His mother burst into tears when she saw her son virtually at his hearing, the news site reported.
“I felt immense helplessness because I couldn’t do anything, and I am desperate to get my son out of there,” she told the Florida Phoenix.
Kennedy compared the situation to Franz Kafka’s novel “The Trial” in which man must defend himself against a charge but has no information about it.
“It’s like this bureaucratic, dystopian nightmare of poorly written laws,” Kennedy said. “We are living in a time when this man could get sent to El Salvador because, what, is he going to be treated like a stateless person?”
Kennedy was referring to the hundreds of immigrants who have been sent by the Trump administration to an El Salvador megaprison after they were accused of being gang members under the wartime Alien Enemies Act. Families, attorneys and some U.S. legislators have not been able to have any contact with them.
Cristian Santana contributed.
