Tallahassee demands release of U.S. citizen illegally detained by ICE

Tallahassee, FL – On Thursday, April 16, about 75 community members rallied at the Leon County Jail to demand the immediate release of Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a U.S. citizen illegally detained by ICE. The emergency mobilization was called by the Tallahassee Immigrant Rights Alliance (TIRA).

Lopez-Gomez, who lives in Georgia and works in Tallahassee, was detained by Florida Highway Patrol during a traffic stop after crossing state lines Wednesday morning. Despite presenting his U.S. birth certificate to the court, ICE formally requested that Lopez-Gomez be held in jail for pickup and processing, superseding Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans’s assessment that the birth certificate was in fact legitimate.

TIRA called for an emergency mobilization at about 4:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, and within two hours, dozens of concerned community members were at the front lawn of the Leon County Jail, chanting “Release Juan now!” and “No fear, no hate! No ICE in our state!”

“Juan Carlos is a U.S. citizen, so if this case moves forward, if he gets deported, this has horrifying implications,” shouted Robert Lee, a local organizer with Food Not Bombs. “Many of us here are children of immigrants. This puts us and our families on the line, really anyone who doesn’t worship the MAGA agenda. Trump is trying to come for all of us and redefine who is ‘American.’ This is not right!”

President Trump has made his intentions undeniably clear. On April 15, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated the president was looking into legal pathways for deporting U.S. citizens.

The case of Lopez-Gomez is about racially profiling Latino and indigenous Americans. Lopez-Gomez’s first and second languages are Tzotzil (a Mayan language) and Spanish. He does not speak English, making him a target for ICE.

After about two hours of consistent chanting and communication with Lopez-Gomez’s legal team, the crowd was notified that Lopez-Gomez had been freed and would be returning home that night. Community members met with him and his mother outside of the jail. Lopez-Gomez, still in his work clothes from Wednesday morning, recalled the treatment he received while detained, stating “I’m glad to be leaving. They gave us nothing to eat at all yesterday. I got one piece of bread today, that’s it.”

The protest ended with chants and tears of joy – organizers promised to offer their continued support as the case progresses. Aedan Bennett, a representative of TIRA, closed out the event, stating, “We had two hours’ notice for this event, but we won Juan Carlos’s release. This is a win for the people. We will always stand up to fight Trump’s racist and violent attacks on immigrants and people everywhere!”

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