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As threats of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and extrajudicial deportations mount, immigration officials are now detaining United States citizens.
On June 27, brothers Marlon Galicia and Francisco Erwin Galicia were stopped at a checkpoint in Texas. Marlon Galicia, from Mexico, was in the country illegally and subsequently deported. Francisco Galicia, a United States citizen, was born in Dallas.
Americans were horrified to learn that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) kept the 18 year old at a detention center for three weeks without a phone call before transferring him to ICE custody.
The Galicia family's lawyer, Claudia Galan, presented officials with Galicia's birth certificate along with other corroborating documents, yet the agencies have ignored her efforts to obtain Galicia's release.
Galan told the Dallas Morning News:
"I presented them with his original birth certificate and other documents and they ignored them. So now I’ve faxed over all the documents to the ICE agent handling the case. He’s going on a full month of being wrongfully detained. He’s a U.S. citizen and he needs to be released now."
Galicia presented officials with a wallet copy of his birth certificate along with a social security card and Texas ID, but the officials reportedly told him they were fake.
Galicia's family fears he'll be deported.
Lawmakers and private citizens alike are disgusted at CBP's unlawful detainment.
CBP is detaining *American citizens.* How would you feel trapped in a border camp, where guards wear face masks be… https://t.co/UoSMoSNbQs— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1563851608.0
Francisco Erwin Galicia is an American, a citizen, an 18-year-old who has been detained for 3 weeks because of the… https://t.co/EHlWYiuUbl— Beto O'Rourke (@Beto O'Rourke) 1563905047.0
Francisco Erwin Galicia is a Texas-born US citizen. The system is broken. https://t.co/pbkqMJHVa6— MJ Hegar (@MJ Hegar) 1563911204.0
We should call this exactly what it is – racial profiling. This American citizen was detained by CBP & ICE because… https://t.co/jNtERaVKq0— Rep. Joe Kennedy III (@Rep. Joe Kennedy III) 1563909862.0
@KenDilanianNBC It is now unsafe for any of us who have brown skin, or have Latino-sounding surnames, or have accen… https://t.co/uoB8e8HgVF— HawaiiDelilah™ (@HawaiiDelilah™) 1563856504.0
@kylegriffin1 This is outrageous. We’ve got to get Trump out.— Sharon Maul #ImpeachTrump, #Resist (@Sharon Maul #ImpeachTrump, #Resist) 1563886276.0
Many fear this is just the beginning.
This isn’t going to wind up being an isolated incident. It was never about citizenship status. https://t.co/vPDcbvbxPB— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg) 1563881703.0
This is not an isolated incident. For anyone who thinks it’s about being here “legally” and not about race, stop ly… https://t.co/6v4uTWXQz9— Matthew Christensen (@Matthew Christensen) 1563888448.0
Those of us who said it was just a matter of time before the Trump administration started rounding up 1st gen Ameri… https://t.co/Vn6xxgNdNn— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@Holly Figueroa O'Reilly) 1563905342.0
In fact, it's already been happening for years.
Congresswoman Barragán visited an ICE camp in McAllan, Texas today. ICE is holding an American citizen hostage. T… https://t.co/OzBd8RdLAu— Simar Ahluwalia (@Simar Ahluwalia) 1563566157.0
Two asylum seekers who have been in the US for 20 years and have two American citizen children were detained by ICE… https://t.co/Vr1UpjJSZr— Dave Levitan (@Dave Levitan) 1563796814.0
It already happened, ICE rounded up an American citizen, a Republican woman, and detained her. She finally got out,… https://t.co/H087Pun9N6— Jeremy Boyd (@Jeremy Boyd) 1563111712.0
According to the New York Post, ICE detained nearly 1500 Americans last year.