A US citizen, born in Georgia, is being held by ICE despite his citizenship

Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez is charged with "illegally entering Florida" as an "unauthorized alien" despite documented proof that he is a US citizen

Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez wasn’t driving when the Florida Highway Patrol pulled the car over.

He was in the passenger seat, riding to work.

The officer told the driver that he had been speeding — 78 in a 65 zone — and gathered the identification of everyone in the car. No problem. Juan Carlos, who had been born in Georgia, then moved to Mexico for most of his childhood, had been living in Georgia since he turned 16 and had a Georgia driver’s license.

BUT.

Twenty-year-old Juan Carlos was arrested and charged under a law that Florida passed on Valentine’s Day. The law says, basically, that if you come into the US illegally and then enter Florida, that crossing the state line is a crime.

First offense is a misdemeanor with a mandatory minimum of nine months in jail. Second offense is a felony with a year plus a day minimum jail time. Third offense is a third degree felony and two years minimum.

So Juan Carlos was charged with illegally entering Florida as an unauthorized alien.

There’s a whole mess of problems with this:

1. Juan Carlos is a US citizen and the law does not apply to US citizens… mostly because they enter both the US and cross state lines legally.

2. The law in question — SB-4C — has a Temporary Restraining Order placed on it by a judge, meaning that it can’t currently be enforced. In fact, members of Florida’s own immigration authority have said that they don’t think the law is likely constitutional and that it’s poorly written. (As written, it may be that you would have to *physically see* someone cross the state line, or be able to prove with evidence how and when they crossed into Florida).

3. Juan Carlos’s mom has shown up at court with his birth certificate which is, well, how Americans prove they were born in the U.S.

So you might be surprised to learn that Juan Carlos is still in jail, and will likely remain there for the next TWO DAYS, because ICE is using a tool called an “Immigration Detainer” to keep Juan Carlos incarcerated despite the local police having no legal reason to hold him any longer.

An “Immigration Detainer,” sometimes called an “ICE hold,” allows ICE to ask local, state, or federal authorities to hold “an alien” even 48 hours beyond the time they usually are able to so that ICE has time to “assume custody.” Of course, Juan Carlos is not an alien, he’s a citizen.

Sebastiana Gomez-Perez, Juan Carlos’s mother, soon after learning that her son could be picked up by immigration authorities despite proving that he is an American citizen, born in Georgia.

His mother, Sebastiana Gomez-Perez took Juan Carlos’s birth certificate and social security card to court and showed them to a judge, who agreed that these were clearly legal documents and proved Juan Carlos’s identity and citizenship… but also she doesn’t have jurisdiction to override an ICE hold. ICE has declined to lift the hold.

So here we are:

* A US citizen
* who didn’t commit a crime
* has been arrested and charged with a currently unenforceable law
* that doesn’t apply to him anyway, because he’s a US citizen
* a judge has validated his birth certificate and citizenship
* and yet ICE has declined to release their hold on him
* with a law designed to give ICE time to take custody of someone

So far, the police have refused to allow Sebastiana to see her son. They’re waiting on word from ICE on how to proceed.

According to a newspaper call Florida Phoenix, Sebastiana said the following: “I wanted to tell them, ‘Where are you going to take him? He is from here.’ I felt immense helplessness because I couldn’t do anything, and I am desperate to get my son out of there.”

So what happens next?

Well, hopefully ICE realizes that a mistake has been made, apologizes, and lets Juan Carlos go. But Sebastiana has been warned that it’s possible that ICE will show up to take her son elsewhere, despite the proof that he’s a US citizen.

This is who we are, America: another illegal arrest, this time using an unenforceable law that doesn’t apply to a US citizen, and — despite the proof — keeping him locked up with a law designed for non-citizens. We’ll know in the next 48 hours if ICE — and we as a country — are going to do the right thing.

ETA: He’s been released! He has to return to court in early May to face charges (not sure why they haven’t been dropped?), but should be easy for him to prove (again) that he’s a US citizen.

(P.S. If you’re interested in an interview about this newsletter, immigration activism, and using social media to make a difference, scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for an interview between me and Navajo speaker, author, and Mark Charles. As always, sources for this article are immediately below.)

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Sources:

The story from Florida Phoenix

Visa Verge has some more info.

Info about Immigration Detainers

Immigration orgs sue Florida over SB-4C, and the judge grants a temporary restraining order keeping the law from being enforced

The lawsuit itself

Even members of Florida’s own immigration enforcement board aren’t sure the law is constitutional and think it’s poorly written.

BONUS: An Interview with Mark Charles