Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen born in Georgia, was wrongfully detained by ICE and held for deportation before being freed on April 17, 2025. His detention followed a traffic stop in Florida, where he was arrested under the false assumption that he was an undocumented immigrant.
Lopez-Gomez, who had been a passenger in a car pulled over by the Florida Highway Patrol for speeding, was shocked when officers detained him for being in the country illegally. Despite Lopez-Gomez clearly being a U.S. citizen, he was arrested on suspicion of immigration violations.
“I feel fine leaving that place, I felt bad in there. They didn’t give us anything to eat all day yesterday,” Lopez-Gomez said after his release. He had asked the arresting officer why he was being taken into custody, given his citizenship, but received no clear answer.
His mother, speaking to the media after the release, expressed her deep concern about the toll this experience has taken on their family. “I don’t have a way to pay all the people who are helping us. People from other states have called us, and we don’t have a way to pay them; we can only thank them,” she said, acknowledging the support from across the country during the fight to free her son.
Lopez-Gomez was detained in Leon County Jail, where he spent the night under ICE’s custody. The situation took a turn for the better after a court appearance on Thursday. Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans ruled that there was no legal basis for his arrest after reviewing his Social Security card and birth certificate, which clearly proved his U.S. citizenship.
“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,” Judge Riggans stated in court, dismissing any claims that Lopez-Gomez could be an undocumented immigrant.
The arrest report filed by the Florida Highway Patrol claimed Lopez-Gomez had admitted to being in the country illegally, though he had shown his Social Security card and Georgia state ID to the officer. The document did not mention the Social Security card, but Lopez-Gomez insisted he had presented it during the stop.
Despite the judge’s ruling, Lopez-Gomez remained in ICE custody for several more hours due to a formal request for a 48-hour hold. After his release, Lopez-Gomez was taken to a nearby Wendy’s, where he was reunited with his mother, who had been anxiously awaiting his freedom.
The reunion was bittersweet, as the experience left the family grappling with the fear that their U.S. citizenship wouldn’t be enough to protect them from the threat of deportation. “The days ahead will be tough for us,” his mother said. “I’m worried about my son and my daughters living in fear, even though they were born here.”
Lopez-Gomez’s case highlights the growing tension surrounding immigration laws in Florida. Under a recently passed law, SB 4-C, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis, undocumented immigrants face misdemeanor charges for entering the state without inspection. However, a federal judge temporarily blocked the law’s enforcement in early April, throwing into question the legitimacy of Lopez-Gomez’s arrest.
Lopez-Gomez will return to court on May 6, facing charges under this new law, which has been widely criticized. Two other men who were in the car with Lopez-Gomez also faced similar charges in their court appearances on Thursday.
The legal battle for Lopez-Gomez is far from over, but his wrongful detention has already sparked outrage and support from around the country. The case serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities faced by U.S. citizens in a climate of heightened immigration enforcement.
