Juan Aguilar lived in America for 30 years. He raised three children. He worked construction near Jacksonville. On 29 May 2025, a minor car accident ended all of that.
Deputies in St Johns County arrested the 49 year old under a state immigration law that federal courts had blocked seven weeks earlier. Within three days, Aguilar was convicted and handed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Prosecutors dropped the wrongful immigration charge days later. By then, he was already in Mexico.
“They never gave me the opportunity to defend myself,” Aguilar told The Marshall Project from across the border.
He is one of at least 27 people arrested in Florida under a law that officers were ordered not to enforce. Among them: a US citizen who spent more than 24 hours in jail despite showing his birth certificate.
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The Law Florida Cannot Enforce
Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 4C on 13 February 2025 in Tallahassee. The legislation created a state crime for undocumented immigrants entering Florida without inspection.
Civil rights groups challenged the law within weeks. On 4 April, US District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami blocked enforcement statewide. She ruled the law likely violates the Constitution because immigration enforcement belongs to the federal government.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed on 6 June. The Supreme Court refused Florida’s request to revive the law on 9 July.
Nine months on, SB 4C remains blocked. Arrests under it never stopped.
Officers Kept Making Arrests
Attorney General James Uthmeier sent conflicting signals to police agencies.
On 18 April, he told officers to pause enforcement. Five days later, he reversed. His 23 April memo stated he “cannot prevent” law enforcement from acting and claimed “no lawful, legitimate order” blocked them.
Judge Williams found Uthmeier in civil contempt on 17 June. She quoted Humpty Dumpty in her ruling: “Litigants cannot change the plain meaning of words as it suits them.”
She ordered him to file reports every two weeks documenting any arrests under the blocked statute. Those reports have documented wrongful charges month after month:
| Month | Location | Details |
|---|---|---|
| April | Leon County | US citizen Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez plus two others |
| May | St Johns County | Juan Aguilar (deported) and Alejandro Perez |
| July | Polk County, Sarasota County | Four people across two counties |
| August | Gulf Coast | Two people |
| October | Bradenton | Two men, same arresting officer |
US Citizen Held Despite Birth Certificate
Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez was born in Georgia. He is 20 years old. On 15 April 2025, he was riding as a passenger in a car pulled over for speeding near the Florida border.
A Florida Highway Patrol trooper arrested him under SB 4C.
According to the Florida Phoenix, Lopez Gomez handed over his Georgia ID and Social Security card at the scene. In court the next morning, a supporter stood and waved his birth certificate. Judge LaShawn Riggans held the document up to the light, confirmed it was authentic, and found no probable cause for the charge.
ICE had already issued a detainer. Lopez Gomez sat in jail more than 24 hours before federal officials confirmed his citizenship.
His mother, Sebastiana Gomez Perez, burst into tears when she saw her son appear on the courtroom video screen. She told reporters she planned to sue.
A Pattern Across the Country
Florida is not alone. Immigrants with valid documents or pending applications have been detained at routine government appointments across America in 2025.
Sergio Cerdio Gomez attended a scheduled interview at a Washington state immigration office in April. He expected to progress with his residency application. ICE detained him on the spot. Seven weeks later, the 42 year old father of three was deported to Mexico. His wife and children are US citizens.
Pang Bailey showed up for her 18th consecutive annual check in at a Michigan ICE office in July. She had attended these appointments since 2007 without incident. Officers detained her and deported her to Laos after 47 years in America.
Similar fates met Claudio Cortez Herrera, a Michigan green card holder for more than 20 years who was deported in October, and Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand mother held 23 days in Texas detention with her six year old son over a paperwork issue.
ICE detention numbers climbed from 39,000 in January 2025 to more than 56,000 by June. That is the highest population since the agency was created.
Where Things Stand Now
All charges filed in Florida under SB 4C have been dismissed or vacated. The legal challenge continues in federal court.
Uthmeier keeps filing his court ordered reports. The October filing documented two more arrests in Bradenton. The same officer made both. Prosecutors reminded him about the injunction.
Bacardi Jackson, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida, said after the Supreme Court ruling: “This ruling affirms what the Constitution demands. Immigration enforcement is a federal matter.”
For Juan Aguilar, the legal correction changed nothing. He remains in Mexico as of December 2025. His three children remain in Florida.
The charges were dropped. He cannot come back.
