He was arrested under a suspended Florida immigration law. Turns out he's a U.S. citizen

Syra Ortiz Blanes, Verónica Egui Brito and Ana Ceballos, Miami Herald on Apr 17, 2025

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In apparent defiance of a federal court ruling, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper arrested a Georgia man in north Florida under a new state law that targets undocumented immigrants who enter the state illegally — though it turns out the man is a U.S. citizen.

Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez, 20, was arrested Wednesday under a new state law that makes it a misdemeanor for an undocumented adult who came to the U.S. without checking in with border authorities to enter Florida, according to a police report. But a federal judge in Miami had already blocked the state from enforcing that law through at least April 18, saying the statute is likely unconstitutional because it infringes on federal immigration authority.

“There is a state-wide injunction against anybody enforcing that law,” said Paul Chavez, litigation director at Americans for Immigrant Justice and an attorney on the federal case. “The court order is very clear.”

Alana Greer, an attorney whose organization Community Justice Project recently joined the federal lawsuit, said “any arrests under this statute are unconstitutional.”

Lopez Gomez was released and reunited with his family on Thursday night after being detained for over 30 hours at the Leon County Jail in Tallahassee.

The Florida Highway Patrol, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office and state Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office did not respond to Miami Herald questions about whether the state has directed police to continue enforcing the law despite the court order. The timing of the arrest, first reported by the Florida Phoenix, raises questions about whether the court order was disobeyed. It also takes place as the Trump administration has wrangled with federal courts that have blocked some of its immigration policies.

Uthmeier’s office argued this week that the state should be able to enforce the new law. On April 4, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami scheduled a hearing for Friday on whether to extend her injunction against the law’s enforcement.

“Absent an immediate pause to enforcement, they will suffer irreparable harm by being placed at risk of arrest, prosecution, and detention under an unconstitutional state statute,” Williams wrote in the state-wide injunction. Her order prohibits the state and its “officers, agents, employees, attorneys, and any person who are in active concert or participation with them” from enforcing the law.

Lopez Gomez was arrested Wednesday, according to the FHP arrest report. But even if the law had not been blocked by the federal court, a birth certificate, which was provided to the Miami Herald, shows Lopez Gomez was born in Grady General Hospital in Cairo, Georgia, in August 2004.

The FHP officer, identified on the arrest form as Gregory Ah Sam, pulled over the car because it was speeding, the report says. There were three people in the car, and the officer asked them for IDs. Two provided the officer with Guatemalan IDs and Lopez Gomez provided his Georgia ID.

“I then asked them if they had entered the state of Florida illegally, which all stated yes, they were aware,” the officer wrote. He added he arrested Lopez Gomez and the other two passengers for unauthorized entrance into the state under the Florida law. All three were taken to the Leon County Jail in Tallahassee.

Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans found that there was no probable cause to arrest Lopez Gomez, according to court records, which also show he was released on Thursday without having to pay bail. The court record also noted there was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold, which means the federal agency had asked local authorities to keep Lopez Gomez detained.

The ICE request listed Lopez Gomez’s citizenship as Mexico and ordered him to be held in local custody. The document says there was probable cause to believe he could be deported because of biometric information in federal databases and because of statements Lopez Gomez had made. ICE did not respond to a Herald request for comment.

“It’s not a situation where there is debate that he’s a U.S. citizen. All parties involved are throwing up their hands and violating this blatant violation of the Constitution to happen,” Greer said.

Lopez Gomez’s relatives told the Herald he had spent most of his childhood in Mexico before returning to his Georgia hometown. He had worked at the same carpet installation company for four years and was headed to work with two Guatemalan co-workers when they were stopped.

Lopez Gomez is the oldest of four children, all born in the United States. One relative, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said the family was “afraid they would be treated as undocumented just because of how we look.”

“He did nothing wrong. He was just on his way to work — he wasn’t even driving — and they took him away. I believe it’s because he looks Hispanic,” his relative said. “He doesn’t deserve this.”

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