Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez walked out of a Florida jail after spending a night in custody for being wrongly accused of being an “unauthorised alien,” reported CNN.
A video on social media shows his emotional reunion with his mother.
Gomez was arrested on Wednesday by the Florida Highway Patrol during a traffic stop, according to his lawyer Mutaqee Akbar. He was travelling to Tallahassee for his construction job, crossing the Florida state line from his home in Georgia—a routine 45-minute commute for work.
Who is Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez?
- Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez, aged 20, was born in the United States, in Grady County, Georgia, and lives in the town of Cairo, Georgia.
- He works in carpet installation and has been employed in the same company for four years.
- Although born in the US, he spent much of his childhood in Mexico.
- His first language is Tzotzil, an indigenous Maya language.
- He is the eldest of four siblings, all born in the United States.
- His family told CNN his “Hispanic” appearance and language background led officers to wrongly assume he was undocumented.
During a virtual court hearing, judge LaShawn Riggans examined Lopez Gomez’s original birth certificate presented by his mother and declared it authentic.
Lopez Gomez’s detention has been widely criticised as a glaring example of the misuse of Florida’s controversial SB 4-C law. The legislation penalises migrants who re-enter Florida unlawfully, but a federal judge had already blocked the law earlier this month, according to CNN.
