U.S.-born man held for ICE under Florida's new anti-immigration law

[iluvtennis]

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/17/u-s-born-man-held-for-ice-under-floridas-new-anti-immigration-law/

Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen, was being held in the Leon County Jail Thursday, charged with illegally entering Florida as an “unauthorized alien” — even as a supporter waved his U.S. birth certificate in court.

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper arrested Lopez-Gomez after a traffic stop in which he was a passenger. The 20-year-old is set to remain in jail for the next 48 hours, waiting for federal immigration officials to pick him up despite his first-degree misdemeanor charge being dropped.

His mother, Sebastiana Gomez-Perez, burst into tears at the sight of her son, who appeared virtually for his first hearing at the Leon County Courthouse. She left the courtroom distraught because she could do nothing to help her son, who was born and lives in Grady County, Georgia.

“I wanted to tell them, ‘Where are you going to take him? He is from here,'” his mother told the Phoenix in Spanish moments after exiting the courtroom. “I felt immense helplessness because I couldn’t do anything, and I am desperate to get my son out of there.”

She continued through tears: “It hurts so much. I’m sorry, I can’t.”

A lieutenant working in the Leon County Jail didn’t allow the mother to see Lopez-Gomez on Thursday and told her officials were working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on how to proceed.

>>>>article continued at the link

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An authentic birth certificate (with watermark) and social security card were provided to the court. But, the state prosecutor said that the court lacked jurisdiction over Lopez-Gomez’s release because ICE had formally asked the jail to hold him.

Un-fkn-believable. Guess my birth certificate, passport, and social security card are rendered invalid under Don the Con's administration.

[riversedge]

1. At issue is a recently passed law that a federal judge has temporarily barred the state from enforcing, further calling

Geezeeeeeeeee!! Unbelievable--yet it is happening!!


..............The Homeland Security Investigations Office in Tampa issued the 48-hour ICE detainer on Thursday. An ICE officer whose name and phone number appear in the detainer refused to speak with the Phoenix.

“He hasn’t committed a crime for them to hold him, that’s what I don’t understand. I’m feeling bad because my daughters are asking me how their brother is. It hurts because I can’t do anything for their brother,” she said.

At issue is a recently passed law that a federal judge has temporarily barred the state from enforcing, further calling into question the validity of his arrest, the charge, and detention. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 4-C into law on Feb. 14, and U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams blocked its enforcement on April 4.

The law makes it a misdemeanor for undocumented immigrants over age 18 to “knowingly” enter Florida “after entering the United States by eluding or avoiding examination or inspection by immigration officers.”

[Eugene]

2. another Kafkaesqe tangle

getting denounced creates a hold that proof of innocence can't clear

Immigation holds on citizens are clearly illegal. Worst case used to be weeks in grueling conditions with coercion to "self deport." Now there is a real risk he gets sent to CECOT.

[SWBTATTReg]

3. So, now US Citizens must avoid the entire state of Florida? Okay w/ me if it helps stop this nonsense. Don't give FL

any of our hard-earned money, don't travel to FL, do as the Canadians are doing now, avoiding FL, the USA, etc. for vacations, etc.