An American teenager has been detained by border officials for nearly a month despite being a U.S. citizen. Francisco Erwin Galicia, who was born in Dallas, was detained at a checkpoint while traveling to a football scouting event in north Texas, his family says.
Officials have refused to release the 18-year-old, who is Hispanic, even though he has documents proving his citizenship.
Galicia's mother, Sanjuana Galicia, told the Dallas Morning News that her son had been traveling with his brother and friends from their home in Edinburg, in the south of Texas, to a college west of Dallas in late June. The group was stopped at a checkpoint soon into their journey.
Galicia's 17-year-old brother, Marlon, was born in Mexico and does not have U.S. citizenship. Marlon was detained - but so was Francisco, who was carrying a Texas ID card, which can only be obtained with a social security number.
Marlon agreed to be deported to Mexico, and is now living with his grandmother in Mexico. However, Francisco spent three weeks in the custody of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), where his mother says he was unable to make phone calls. In recent days, he has moved to ICE custody and has been able to call his mother.
Mrs Galan said she had presented ICE with Francisco's birth certificate and other documents to prove he is a U.S. citizen, but has been unable to get him released.
"He's going on a full month of being wrongfully detained," his mother said. "He's a U.S. citizen and he needs to be released now." To date, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has refused to comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment