U.S. citizen wrongfully detained near border released by ICE
After spending more than three weeks in custody, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen was finally released from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Pearsall, Texas, on Tuesday night.
Born in Dallas, Francisco Erwin Galicia was detained on June 27 after his car was stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint. Galicia's attorney, Claudia Galan, told The Associated Press she believes Galicia was "absolutely" racially profiled, as everyone in the car was Latino. Galicia had his Texas state ID with him, but was still detained on suspicion of being in the United States illegally.
Legally, the Border Patrol is only supposed to hold people for up to 72 hours, yet Galicia was in their facility for three weeks, Galan said. On Saturday, he was transferred to ICE custody, and only then was he able to make collect calls to his mother. The Dallas Morning News published an article about Galicia's plight on Monday, and by Tuesday night, he was released. "I'm so thankful Francisco is free and he can sleep at home tonight and see his mom," Galan told AP. ICE has not commented on Galicia's case.
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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