CAIRO, Ga. (WALB) - For the first time, we’re hearing from the Cairo native who was wrongfully detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Wednesday.

WALB sat down with the organization, Mission Vision Foundation Inc., that fought to get Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez out of the detention center as they translate to us how this American Citizen ended up in Federal Immigration Detainment.

Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez was born in the city of Cairo. This week, on his way to work, he was wrongfully detained by ICE agents. Now, the community is rallying together to ensure that never happens again.

Lopez-Gomez speaks an indigenous language and is not fluent in English or Spanish. He left America when he was two years old to go to Mexico. He then returned to America when he was 16 years old.

“They didn’t want to believe that I had legal status here. They told me that they were going to deport me.” Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez said.

Lopez-Gomez was a passenger in a car when the driver was pulled over by Florida Highway Patrol in Tallahassee, on Wednesday April 16. Gomez said he showed officers his Social Security Card, but he claims officers did not perform proper checks to validate citizenship.

According to Silvia Salgado, who is a part of the organization that worked to get Gomez free, Gomez was charged with being an “undocumented alien” in the state of Florida.

“There was no logic in that charge because it does not apply to him. He is not an ‘undocumented alien.’ He is a born USA Citizen,” Salgado said.

The state judge in Lopez-Gomez’s case this week verified his U.S. birth certificate and found no probable cause for charging him with crossing into Florida illegally. Gomez was released back to his family on the night of Thursday, April 17.

WALB’s Ashanti Isaac asked Salgado, “Do you think this was racial profiling that caused this situation?”

“I don’t think — I know it was racial profiling.” Salgado said.

Isaac continued, “And you think it was because of his name, and he doesn’t speak English?”

“That’s exactly what it was.” Salgado said. “Because he doesn’t speak the language, and because he doesn’t look like what you would call ‘an American citizen.’”

Outside of the Detention Center, people rallied for justice for Gomez. His mother, Sebastiana Gomez-Perez is still visibly shaken, saying if they had deported her son, he would have been in a strange land without knowing how to navigate.

“I was super worried because he was suffering. How he was not eating, how he was so cold and mistreated and in there wrongfully and denied being released.” said Gomez-Perez.

WALB reached out to Florida Highway Patrol to get a clear understanding about the proper checks to validate citizenship. We are waiting on a response.

The family said that this isn’t the end, and they want to focus on Juan’s mental recovery from this traumatic experience. They said they still have some legal battles, but for now, they hope that this never happens again to another American citizen.

WALB’s Previous coverage:

• US citizen detained by ICE now released

Permission to use reunited video from Reporter Jackie Llanos with the Florida Phoenix. Their coverage:

• U.S. citizen released from jail after arrest under Florida’s new anti-immigration law
• U.S.-born man held for ICE under Florida’s new anti-immigration law

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