U.S.-born American citizen under ICE hold in Florida after driving from Georgia

[Layzeebeaver]

49. Fascism... sure... here's the scoop... from MSNBC...

A U.S.-born American citizen was being detained at the request of immigration authorities Thursday despite an advocate showing his U.S. birth certificate in court and a county judge finding no reason for him to be considered an “illegal alien” who illegally entered Florida.

Juan Carlos Gomez-Lopez, 20, was arrested Thursday evening by Florida Highway Patrol and charged under a state immigration law that has been temporarily blocked since early this month. Details of Gomez-Lopez’s arrest and detention were first reported by the Florida Phoenix news site. After inspecting his birth certificate, Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans said during the hearing that “this is indeed an authentic document,” but that she did not have jurisdiction beyond finding no probable cause for the charge.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s role is to enforce immigration laws that generally apply to noncitizens. American citizens are protected under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution from unreasonable search and seizure, arrest and detention.

Nonetheless, he remains detained locally at ICE’s request, said Thomas Kennedy, a spokesperson at the Florida Immigrant Coalition who attended Thursday’s hearing. “Everything tracks for him being sent to an ICE detention center,” he told NBC News in a phone interview.

NBC News has reached out to state and federal authorities for comment.

Gomez-Lopez was in a vehicle with other passengers and was traveling to work from Georgia when they were stopped after entering Florida. A sweeping immigration law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023 makes it a state crime for an undocumented immigrant over age 18 to enter the state illegally.