Feds blame U.S. citizen for his arrest under suspended immigration law [View all]

Source: Oklahoma Voice

Feds blame U.S. citizen for his arrest under suspended immigration law

By: Jackie Llanos - April 22, 2025 12:54 pm

The federal government is blaming a U.S. citizen for his arrest during a traffic stop in Leon County last week under a temporarily blocked state immigration law.

A senior official with the Department of Homeland Security said Monday that Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a 20-year-old born in Georgia, was detained Wednesday after he told a Florida Highway Patrol trooper that he was in the country illegally.

“Immediately after learning the individual was a United States citizen, he was released,” a DHS senior official said in a statement Monday. “When individuals admit to committing a crime, like entering the country illegally, they will of course be detained while officers investigate.”

The trooper charged Lopez-Gomez following a traffic stop with illegally entering the state as an “unauthorized alien,” under a new state law that a federal judge temporarily suspended on April 4. Lopez-Gomez, released from Leon County jail Thursday evening, insists he told the trooper he was a U.S. citizen born in Georgia, handed over his Social Security card and Georgia ID, which meets federal security standards under the REAL ID Act of 2005.

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Read more: https://oklahomavoice.com/2025/04/22/feds-blame-u-s-citizen-for-his-arrest-under-suspended-immigration-law/

Alternate link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/feds-blame-u-citizen-arrest-175429071.html