Young U.S. citizen finally freed at migrant lockup
Federal officials didn’t believe his birth certificate was real
PEARSALL — An 18-year-old who was held in federal immigration custody for nearly a month because officials didn’t believe he was a U.S. citizen — despite his birth certificate — was released Tuesday afternoon.
Without notice or fanfare, Francisco Galicia strolled out of the South Texas Detention Facility while his attorney Claudia Galan of McAllen, who had just arrived, was talking to reporters in the parking lot.
“I’m fine. I feel very good. They just came to me and told me to get my stuff and I could go,” said Galicia, a pale, lanky youth in need of a haircut and a change of clothes.
“It was much worse in Falfurrias. It was inhumane there, not just for me but many others. We were 60 in a room,” he said.
A senior at J. Economedes High School in Edinburg, Galicia’s ordeal began June 27, when he was detained at the Falfurrias checkpoint.
Galicia, a high school soccer player, was on his way to a tryout at Ranger College, a community college between Abilene and Fort Worth.
At the Falfurrias checkpoint 80 miles from the border, federal agents deemed his documents and those of his younger brother Marlon suspect.
Marlon, who does not have legal status in the country, accepted voluntary deportation and was sent to Mexico.
Galicia was detained when he persisted in asserting that he was born in Dallas and was a U.S. citizen.
He was detained in Falfurrias until Saturday, when he was transferred to the ICE facility in Pearsall for possible deportation.
“He said they were pressuring him to say his papers were fake and that he’s not from here,” his mother, Sanjuana Galicia, 43, said before
her son’s release.
“He isn’t eating or sleeping well, and I’m afraid it will cause psychological damage to him,” she added Tuesday morning.
But several hours later, after his release, Francisco Galicia spoke joyfully with his mother on a borrowed cellphone.
His lawyer Galan said that after weeks of back and forth, immigration officials finally accepted Galicia’s documents as authentic, and agreed to release him.
Had they not, she said, she was prepared to file a suit in federal court.
“This is the end of the case for Francisco, and we are very happy,” she said. “However, we cannot lose sight of the fact that an American citizen was held for over three weeks, and could not call me or his mother.”
She added, “ICE and the Border Patrol need oversight. Francisco is not the first U.S. citizen to be detained, and some have even been deported.”
First reported in the Dallas Morning News, the unusual case drew national attention, including a recent tweet of protest from U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Federal immigration officials have declined to say why they doubted Galicia was a U.S. citizen, despite his traveling with documents that included a copy of a U.S. birth certificate.
News releases on the case, promised earlier Tuesday by ICE and CBP spokesmen, were not yet available Tuesday evening.
Galan said that before the release, she’d already spoken three times with a CBP lawyer about the case and provided critical documents without seeing any progress.
She said she became alarmed this weekend when it appeared Galicia was headed for deportation.
“When my client was transferred to ICE custody and placed for removal proceedings, I decided to go to the media,” she said.
The problem may have stemmed from inconsistent claims made by his mother.
On a tourist visa application made years ago, she incorrectly identified him as Mexican, his lawyer said.
In addition, his mother apparently used an assumed name when she went to the hospital to give birth to him.
“His mother did apply for a tourist visa and that definitely is the reason he is stuck there,” Galan said earlier Tuesday, but added: “They have known since Day 1 he is an American citizen.”