1. United States
2. N.Y.
3. Letter

As an American citizen. I am appalled by the news that a US citizen has been apprehended and incarcerated in Florida, after being singled out because how he looks and because he speaks a different language. He is a 20 year old man, born in the United States. His names is Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez. Leon County Judge LaShawn Riggans held Lopez-Gomez’s birth certificate up to the light after community advocate Silvia Alba silently waved the document in the courtroom. “In looking at it, and feeling it, and holding it up to the light, the court can clearly see the watermark to show that this is indeed an authentic document,” Riggans said. Based on her inspection of his birth certificate and Social Security card, Riggans said she found no probable cause for the charge. However, the state prosecutor insisted the court lacked jurisdiction over Lopez-Gomez’s release because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had formally asked the jail to hold him. “This court does not have any jurisdiction other than what I’ve already done,” Riggans said. Riggans said she was very sorry as Lopez-Gomez’s mother left. The president of the United States has been playing with the lives of immigrants, using them as a weapon to show his power, which has gone unchecked. He has sent hundreds of men to El Salvador, to CECOT, a prison where once you go in, you never get out. He sent a total of 238 people, who didn't have due process and who I am hearing now, from a Bloomberg report that, 90% of these men have no criminal record in the States or in their countries. And now, on Monday, during a meeting El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele recorded Trump saying he would like to send homegrowns next, homegrowns, we need 5 more prisons. He is talking about American citizens. And who will these American Citizens be? I have a guess, naturalized citizens, like me, why? Because we have brown skin, because we speak a language other than English, because we dare to stand up and use our first amendment right to protect the constitution of the United States. Anyone opposing the president is now in danger of retaliation. I urge you to please follow through with the oath you to take the day you were sworn in office. The oath to protect the constitution againts ALL enemies, foreign and domestic. The time is now to do what is right. We can not sit idle why America's Democracy is being destroyed!