A US citizen was held in a Florida jail at the request of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), even though county judges could verify the individual’s US birth certificate in court.
Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez, a US-born individual, was detained in Florida on Wednesday by the state’s highway patrol and charged with illegally entering the state as an “illegal alien” under state legislation. A temporary order was issued, as reported by Florida Phoenix News Outlet on Thursday.
Leon County Judge Lashaun Riggans stated on Thursday that he lacked the authority to release the 20-year-old and instructed Leon County Jail to keep Lopez Gomez despite the dismissal of the charges against him.
As per Florida Phoenix, the judge reviewed Lopez Gomez’s birth certificate, which his supporters provided to the court, stating, “Look, feel it, keep it in the light,” and emphasized the importance of observing and physically confirming the document.
Lopez Gomez was traveling from Georgia and was intercepted in Florida by a Highway Patrol officer.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) enacted a controversial immigration law that categorizes undocumented immigrants over the age of 18 as “deliberately entering or attempting to enter Florida by evading inspections or tests by immigration officials.”
The Hill sought comments from ICE.
Lopez Gomez has his origins in Georgia, and his primary language is thzagli, as reported by Florida Phoenix.
His mother wept during her son’s appearance in a virtual court hearing.
“I wanted to tell them, ‘Where are you taking him? He’s from here,'” she expressed to the outlet. “I felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness because I was unable to help and desperately wanted to get my son out of this situation.”
A protest was held outside the 20-year-old’s detention at Leon County Jail. He was released, as reported by Florida Phoenix, on Thursday evening and was reunited with his mother. It has been reported.
“It’s like a bureaucratic, unspoken dystopian nightmare of legislation,” remarked Thomas Kennedy, a spokesperson for the Florida Immigration Union, who attended the hearing on Thursday. He stated to NBC News, “We live in an age where this individual can be sent to El Salvador.”
Amy God Shawl, a legal fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation in Florida, said that Lopez Gomez’s detention is based on “manifestly false claims that he entered the state without proper documentation.”
