A U.S. citizen has reportedly been held in CBP custody for over three weeks
An 18-year-old is being held in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, despite the fact that he's a Dallas-born U.S. citizen, The Dallas Morning News reports.
Francisco Galicia has reportedly been detained for more than three weeks, his attorney said.
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Galicia was carrying his Texas ID, which requires a social security number to obtain, but he said he was still detained because he did not have a U.S. passport on him. His attorney presented CBP officers last week with Galicia's birth certificate, a congratulatory certificate his mother received from Dallas hospital staff after he was born, a high school ID, and a health insurance card. CBP reportedly did not budge, and reportedly didn't give him phone access for weeks.
"He's a U.S. citizen and he needs to be released now," said his attorney, Claudia Galan, who is planning on presenting the same documents to ICE officers later this week. Neither ICE nor CBP commented on Galicia's case.
Between 2006 and 2017 ICE wrongfully detained more than 3,500 U.S. citizens in Texas alone, The New York Times reports. Now, many U.S. citizens say they constantly carry their passport out of fear of detention or deportation. Read more at The Dallas Morning News.
