A U.S. citizen who was improperly detained in a migrant holding facility never disclosed his citizenship, despite Department of Homeland Security documents accusing him of falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen, a Border Patrol chief told Congress Thursday.

Brian Hastings, chief of Law Enforcement at the U.S. Border Patrol, said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing that 18-year-old Francisco Erwin Galicia, who was held in Border Patrol custody for 23 days, “claimed to be a Mexican national who was born in Reynosa, Mexico,” when he was stopped at a checkpoint 100 miles north of the border.

“Throughout the process, and while he was with Border Patrol, he claimed to be a citizen of Mexico with no immigration documents to be in or remain in the U.S.,” Mr. Hastings told Congress.

“Upon further investigation, we also found that he had a border crossing card and that border crossing card he had used 53 times to cross the border into the U.S., which gives us further indication that he was not a U.S. citizen. At no time in Border Patrol custody did he say that he was a U.S. citizen,” he added.

However, Mr. Galicia’s attorney, Claudia Galan, gave Dallas News an immigration court notice given to the teenager that reads: “You falsely represented yourself to be a citizen of the United States for the purpose of furthering your entry into the United States.”

Ms. Galan said Mr. Galicia stated he was a U.S. citizen from the moment he was detained and, while he did have a visitor’s visa on him from when he lived in Mexico, he also had a Texas ID, wallet birth certificate and his Social Security card on him.

“[Hastings‘] statement is incorrect,” Ms. Galan said. “At the moment he was stopped, he showed them his documents, and he kept saying he was a U.S. citizen.”

Mr. Galicia was held in a detainment facility for more than three weeks but was freed Tuesday, less than a day after the news reports by Dallas News began to circle.

He describes horrendous conditions of being kept in a cage with 60 other men, sleeping on the floor and getting a wet wipe to clean himself every four days instead of a shower.

Mr. Galicia said he received so little food he lost 26 pounds and considered self-deporting despite being a citizen.

“It was inhumane how they treated us. It got to the point where I was ready to sign a deportation paper just to not be suffering there anymore. I just needed to get out of there,” he said, the Dallas News reported Wednesday.

After hearing Mr. Hastings‘ comments, Mr. Galicia said the Border Patrol was lying.

“How can they say that? That’s a lie. I showed them my documents, and I told them right away that I was a U.S. citizen,” Mr. Galicia said.

In a CNN report that aired Friday, Mr. Galicia said he believes racism was the reason for his detention and not his conflicting documents.

“They thought they were superior. They looked at us with such distaste. I think it was like a certain type of racism,” he said.

Mr. Galicia and Ms. Galan plan to file a lawsuit over the teenager’s treatment in federal custody.

Dallas News said a CBP spokesman declined to comment further after being asked about Mr. Hastings‘ potentially conflicting testimony.

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