A Border Patrol Chief Testifies That Francisco Galicia Never Claimed U.S. Citizenship, But Document Says Otherwise

A U.S. Border Patrol chief on Thursday testified before the House Judiciary Committee that 18-year-old Francisco Erwin Galicia never claimed to be a U.S. citizen when he was in Border Patrol custody for 23 days.But that contradicts a notice to appear in immigration court served to Galicia in which the Department of Homeland Security accused him of falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen while in custody.Galicia is a Dallas-born U.S. citizen who lives in Edinburg in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. He also has dual citizenship in Mexico. The story of his 26 days in detention after being picked up by the Border Patrol in Falfurrias garnered widespread national attention after The Dallas Morning News first reported it on Monday.At a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Brian Hastings, Chief of Law Enforcement at the U.S. Border Patrol, also said that Galicia was detained because it was discovered he had used a U.S. visitors visa that his mother got for him when he was a minor to travel back and forth from Mexico more than 50 times.During the oversight hearing on family separations and short-term custody, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-California, asked Hastings why Galicia was held in custody for more than three weeks. Galicia was released less than 24 hours after The News broke the story.   Continue reading...