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Immigration Agents Detain Texas Teen for 3+ Weeks Despite Being a U.S. Citizen

HeadlineJul 24, 2019

In Texas, authorities have released an 18-year-old U.S. citizen who had been detained by immigration agents for over three weeks after he was taken in at a Border Patrol checkpoint. Francisco Erwin Galicia was detained with his younger brother as they traveled to a soccer event last month. He showed proof of his Texas ID, and Galicia’s lawyer says she supplied multiple documents proving the teenager’s citizenship, but border agents refused to release him for weeks, saying the documents were fake. Francisco Erwin’s 17-year-old brother Marlon, who was not born in the U.S., signed a voluntary deportation order and is now in Mexico.

New York Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expressed outrage at Galicia’s treatment, tweeting, ”CBP is detaining American citizens. How would you feel trapped in a border camp, where guards wear face masks because the human odor is so strong? When we allow the rights of some to be violated, the rights of all are not far behind.”

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