As the controversial Republican-led crackdown on immigration continues to grow despite legal challenges, a new situation has developed: the detention of an American citizen as an “unauthorized alien.”
Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez’s arrest adds another wrinkle to the story of who is being targeted and how the government is exceeding its authority.
Detained despite proof of citizenship
The Florida Phoenix reported that 20-year-old Lopez-Gomez was arrested by Florida Highway Patrol when he was a passenger in a vehicle subjected to a traffic stop. He and two other men in the car were held under a Florida law that makes it a misdemeanor offense for an “unauthorized alien” to “knowingly” enter the state “after entering the United States by eluding or avoiding examination or inspection by immigration officers.” After Lopez-Gomez was arrested, the Department of Homeland Security issued a detainer to hold him for 48 hours so Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials could pick him up.
Lopez-Gomez’s family and supporters rightfully pointed out that he was born in Georgia and currently resides there, even producing his birth certificate as proof of his American citizenship. During a court appearance Thursday, Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans examined the document and confirmed its authenticity. When the state prosecutor insisted the court lacked the jurisdiction to release Lopez-Gomez, given the request to hold him for ICE, Riggans apologized to his family. However, Lopez-Gomez was finally released on Thursday evening, reuniting with his mother in an emotional scene.
Florida, federal officials push expanded immigration enforcement powers
Although Lopez-Gomez was released, many note the absurdity of holding an American citizen on immigration charges, highlighting the extent to which federal and Florida state authorities have stretched their powers. The Florida law under which Lopez-Gomez was arrested, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in February, has been paused by a judge.
“It’s a series of horrors,” attorney and Community Justice Project founder Alana Greer told CNN. She represents the Florida Immigrant Coalition, but not Lopez-Gomez, and added, “No one should have been arrested under this law, let alone a US citizen.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has used ICE and the Department of Homeland Security alongside various questionable legal arguments to crank up its immigration crackdown. The administration recently evoked the rarely used Alien Enemies Act to fast-track detention and deportation of those it deems gang members and “terrorists,” despite many of those deported not having criminal records. One such case that has caught international attention is that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was illegally deported to El Salvador and remains imprisoned there despite a Supreme Court order to the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return to the United States.
Cases like those of Lopez-Gomez and Abrego Garcia highlight the expanded and even unlawful ways in which Republican-controlled authorities are rounding up people on immigration charges. With these arrests continuing and civil liberty violations mounting in the process, expect more controversial cases and legal challenges to this crackdown.
