18-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Was Detained By ICE For Nearly A Month Despite Having Birth Certificate, Texas State ID
Francisco Erwin Galicia had been traveling to North Texas with his brother and a group of friends for a college soccer team tryout when they were stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint.
An 18-year-old U.S. citizen who was detained in federal immigration custody for nearly a month has been released, his mother confirmed to The Washington Post Tuesday night. Francisco Erwin Galicia, a rising high school senior in Edinburg, Tex., had set off on a Texas road trip on June 27 to attend a college soccer team tryout only to end up accused of lying about his citizenship as authorities questioned the authenticity of his documents, according to his attorney, Claudia Galan. (Flynn, 7/23)
Francisco Erwin Galicia was detained at a CBP checkpoint in Falfurrias on June 27, said Claudia Galan, his attorney. Galicia was traveling with his 17-year-old brother Marlon Galicia and a group of friends from Edinburg where they live to Ranger College in North Texas for a soccer scouting event when they came upon a CBP checkpoint, said Sanjuana Galicia, his mother. (Manuel, 7/23)
In other news —
The U.S. government's new holding facility for migrant youth will close as early as this week, less than one month after it was opened in response to the squalid conditions in which children were being detained by the Border Patrol, according to the nonprofit operating the facility. The last children at the camp at Carrizo Springs, Texas, are on track to leave by Thursday, said Kevin Dinnin, the CEO of the nonprofit BCFS. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services opened the facility in late June. An HHS spokeswoman declined to comment Tuesday. (7/23)
The Carrizo Springs camp officially opened June 30 in order to provide more beds to children who were being held in squalid Border Patrol facilities on the U.S.-Mexico border. It is run by the nonprofit firm BCFS, which the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will pay $50 million for its first 60 days of operation. Kevin Dinnin, the CEO of BCFS, told Vice that his staff was told to leave the facility by the end of the week. He said the facility will also have discharged its remaining children by the end of the week. (Weixel, 7/23)
