A U.S. citizen was arrested for entering the state of Florida as an “unauthorized alien” under a state law that shouldn’t have been enforced in the first place.*
Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez will remain in jail for 48 hours under an ICE hold, according to the Florida Phoenix. His mother and a community advocate presented his birth certificate and Social Security card during a hearing in Leon County, but the judge said that she had no authority to release him due to the court’s jurisdiction.
Lopez Gomez, 21, was born in Georgia. According to court records, he has been assigned a judge as well as a public defender. He appears to have been arrested and charged under an “anti-immigration” law passed in Florida two months ago, despite the fact that the law is currently under a temporary restraining order and isn’t supposed to be enforced.
Bluesky screenshot Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com: Bare-bones docket for Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez (misspelled in the file as “Jaun”) screenshot: 811.102 1 IMMIGRATION – UNAUTHORIZED ALIEN ENTER FLORIDA WITHOUT INSPECTION 4/16/2025 ON-VIEW ARREST IMMIGRATION – UNAUTHORIZED ALIEN ENTER FLORIDA WO INSPECTION FIRST APPEARANCE REQUIRED F.A.R. BOOKING INFORMATION BOOKING INFORMATION ENTERED: OBTS# 3703070606/BOOKING# 3375/REP# FHP25ON0177377 JUDGE ASSIGNED DIV-M1 JUDGE RIGGANS LASHAWN D JUDGE ID-117 STATE ATTORNEY ASSIGNED PROSECUTING ATTORNEY ADDED: 5555551 – MISD. DIV.1 FIRST APPEARANCE SET FIRST APPEARANCE SET: 04/17/2025 08:30AM /ROOM# J1 4/17/2025 ARREST AFFIDAVIT / NOTICE TO APPEAR / INCIDENT REPORT PRETRIAL DEFENDANT INTERVIEW CASE COMMENTS FROM COURT EVENT INTERP RICARDO ARENAS PRESENT ON ZOOM. ICE HOLD JUDGE RIGGANS FINDS NO PC FOR CT. PUBLIC DEFENDER APPOINTED CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE SET 05/06/2025 08:30 AM ROOM – 2A COURT MINUTES ORDER: RELEASE ON RECOGNIZANCE FOR ROR
Blue Sky screenshot Timothy Burke @bubbaprog.lol: Booking info. Looks like he was charged with “breaking” the new “anti-immigration” law Republicans in Florida just passed two months ago. (screenshot of his record in the database)
It was only a matter of time before Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts swept up an American citizen, and it happened to be aided by local authorities in Florida. Before Trump was even sworn in as president, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pledged his cooperation with the Trump administration’s attempts to deport as many immigrants as possible.
Why did local authorities completely disregard a federal court ruling in order to arrest Lopez Gomez, and then disregard the fact he’s a natural-born U.S. citizen? Is this a mistake, or are they taking their lead from the president, who is currently disregarding a court order from the Supreme Court?
* This piece has been updated to correct the nature of Lopez Gomez’s arrest.
