A year ago Francisco Erwin Galicia sat in a Border Patrol holding facility in South Texas alongside dozens of men, many of whom had crossed the border hoping to gain asylum in the U.S.
It had been days since his last shower and he was hungry. He sat wondering if his mom knew he was alive and if his younger brother, Marlon, was safe in Mexico.
The two brothers had been detained alongside a group of friends on June 27, 2019, at a checkpoint in Falfurrias. Marlon, who was born in Mexico and was an unauthorized immigrant, opted for a voluntary return to Mexico.
But Galicia, a U.S. citizen born in Dallas, would go on to spend almost a month in Border Patrol custody, losing 26 pounds during that time. He would not be freed until The Dallas Morning News broke the story of his detention in late July.
The 19-year-old, who recently graduated from high school, said he’s tried to leave behind what was the worst experience of his life to focus on what the future holds for him. But he must first win the fight to have his U.S. citizenship properly recognized by the U.S. government.
A year after his detention, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s case against him — which questions his citizenship and his right to be in the country — remains open despite Galicia’s attorney presenting his Dallas birth certificate to the federal government numerous times.
Now Galicia is as far from the U.S.-Mexico border as he’s ever been. He’s working at a pork processing plant in Michigan after a friend helped him get a job there.
He’s trying to take it easy before he decides what to do next. He said he’s interested in studying business in college, but skipping college altogether is another route he’s considering.
“I’m going to be here for the next two months and earn a little bit of money. Then I’ll head home to be with my family and relax a bit,” Galicia said. “The pay here is better than in the [Rio Grande] Valley, so I felt this was the move for now.”
His detention weighed on him throughout his final year of high school, Galicia said.
“When soccer season started, I really couldn’t focus on the game,” said Galicia, who played as a defender for Johnny Economedes High School in Edinburg. “I struggled at first and people asked me nonstop about what it was like in there.”
He finished the year with good grades, though he had to end his high school career at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A few days ago, Galicia said, a friend reached out and asked him if he remembered that it had been a full year since he was detained in Falfurrias.
“I try not to think about it,” Galicia said. “I try to stay busy and keep my mind off of that. I’m not sure what good it does for me to keep thinking about that time.”
Galicia was detained at the Border Patrol checkpoint because agents doubted the validity of his Texas ID and wallet-sized birth certificate. After he was fingerprinted, agents discovered that he had been issued a visitors visa when he was a minor that was used to bring him back to the U.S. from Mexico.
When his mother Sanjuana Galicia, who is an unauthorized immigrant, lived in Dallas, she used fake documents to obtain work. When she gave birth to Galicia in December 2000 at Parkland Memorial Hospital, medical staff used the name on her fake documents to prepare Galicia’s birth certificate.
She left Dallas for her hometown of Reynosa, which sits across the border from McAllen. When it was time for Galicia to start school, Sanjuana obtained a Mexican birth certificate for him in 2003 because school officials said he needed to be a Mexican citizen to be admitted.
But drug war-fueled violence forced her to seek safety in the U.S. Because her name didn’t appear on his original birth certificate, Sanjuana feared they wouldn’t be allowed to cross the border together and decided instead to get a visa for him, claiming on his behalf that he was born in Mexico.
Attorney Claudia Galan, who has represented Galicia and his family since last summer, said she feels she’s done everything possible to clear Galicia of any wrongdoing and can’t understand why the government hasn’t yet closed the case through prosecutorial discretion.
Galan said his birth being recorded in Dallas in early 2001 should be enough evidence to dismiss his case. But Galicia was issued an August 2020 immigration court date after ICE indicated last fall that it would pursue the case.
Galan sought to get Galicia a passport and was successful. Galicia received his U.S. passport in December and his attorney then filed a motion to terminate the case, adding the passport as evidence.
Attorneys for ICE responded to the motion, saying in their filing that the agency did not oppose the case’s termination. But Galan said their filing asked that the judge leave the door open in case more evidence arises that could question Galicia’s citizenship.
“His birth certificate says he was born at the hospital in Dallas. If this wasn’t true, then the State Department wouldn’t have issued him a passport,” Galan said. “There’s no question here as to whether his birth certificate is real. He is a U.S. citizen.”
The News reached out to ICE and asked what evidence the agency would have to see in order to permanently close Galicia’s case.
“As a matter of policy, ICE does not comment on pending litigation,”” the agency responded in a statement. “However, lack of comment should not be construed as agreement with or stipulation to any of the allegations.”
That statement was identical to three inquiries The News made late last year about the case.
The agency’s unwillingness to shut the case altogether is a result of internal policy, said Patricia Corrales, a California-based immigration attorney who worked as an ICE prosecutor for more than 10 years.
“The policy within DHS is to always leave a door open, just in case,” Corrales said. “They will never agree to fully terminate.”
Still, Corrales said, it’s unlikely ICE will prosecute the case against Galicia, but she added that the agency should agree to terminate the case permanently and without a doubt if it knows the evidence is fully against it.
“It’s a lazy policy,” Corrales said. “Whatever staff attorney is working on that case is following orders and probably isn’t considering the evidence that they have already presented.”
