US citizen wrongfully detained by ICE and charged with being ‘unauthorised alien’ has been released
A US-born man who was mistakenly detained by ICE and charged with being ‘unauthorised alien’ has been released.
Earlier this week on 16 April, Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez - who was born in Grady County, Georgia - was arrested by Florida Highway Patrol as he crossed into the state on his way to work.
The 20-year-old construction worker was initially charged under a new Florida law that 'provides criminal penalties for unauthorized aliens who knowingly enter or attempt to enter the state after entering the United States by eluding or avoiding examination or inspection by immigration officers'.
According to a spokesperson for the immigrant rights coalition working with Lopez-Gomez's family, the law has been temporarily blocked by a judge.
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And, after spending the night in jail on a 48-hour hold, he was released yesterday evening (17 April), spokesperson Thomas Kennedy told CNN.
Alongside a photo of an emotional Lopez-Gomez, Kennedy, who works with the Florida Immigrant Coalition, wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "He is free!! Thank you to everyone who shared, call(ed) and did anything to help secure his release."
Lopez-Gomez had appeared virtually before Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans earlier in the day, where the judge was presented with a copy of his birth certificate by his mother, Sebastiana Perez.
"In looking at it, and feeling it, and holding it up to the light, the court can clearly see the watermark to show that this is indeed an authentic document," Riggans said.
The judge also said there was no probable cause for the charge of crossing into Florida illegally.
The Department of Homeland Security is now looking into the incident.
But Lopez-Gomez isn't the only person to be wrongfully detained by ICE following Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration.
Last month (5 March), naturalised US citizen Jensy Machado was stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on his way to work.
Machada told Telemundo 44 that he was confused when agents started surrounding the pickup truck on Lomond Drive in Manassas, Virginia.
"They just got out of the car with the guns in their hands and say, turn off the car, give me the keys, open the window, you know," he said. "Everything was really fast."
Machada explained that the ICE agents said the name of a man they were looking for to deliver a deportation order - an individual who had given Machado’s home address.
He said he told the surrounding agents that this name in question was not his name and offered to show them his driver’s license.
"They didn’t ask me for any ID," he continued. "I was telling the officer, if I can give him ID, but he said just keep my hands up, not moving. After that, he told me to get out of the car and put the handcuffs on me.
After the agents checked his ID, Machada was uncuffed and immediately released.
Bec Oakes