An 18-year-old US citizen who was held in immigration detention for almost a month slept on the floor of a cell crowded with 60 men and lost 20 pounds from a lack of nutritious food — all while being denied access to a phone to call his family or a lawyer.

Attorney Claudia Galan said the conditions that Francisco Galicia faced in Customs and Border Protection detention were so bad that he considered signing the paperwork that would deport him to Mexico just to get relief. The high school student was born in Dallas in December 2000, according to his birth certificate.

"The officers were just telling him they didn't believe he was a US citizen, he was Mexican and should go back to Mexico," Galan told BuzzFeed News. "He said that it was inhumane, the worst experience ever. He doesn't wish that to anybody."

On June 27, Galicia, his brother, and other friends were driving to a soccer recruiting event at Ranger College from their home in the border town of Edinburg when were stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint.



Galicia had his Texas ID as well as a copy of his birth certificate, but his 17-year-old brother Marlon, who was born in Mexico, and another boy in the car, only carried school IDs. They were then sent to secondary screening, where officers ran Galicia's name and discovered an old travel visa.

That document, taken out by his mother when he was a child, listed his birthplace as Mexico. Because she was not living in the US legally, she had used a different name on his birth certificate and didn't believe she could get him a US passport.

In a joint statement, ICE and CBP said they had taken appropriate steps after "conflicting reports" about his citizenship.

"Situations including conflicting reports from the individual and multiple birth certificates can, and should, take more time to verify," the agencies said. "While we continue to research the facts of the situation, the individual has been released from ICE custody."

Galan disagreed, pointing out officers had seen the copy of his birth certificate when he was apprehended, yet Galicia remained in custody for 26 days. She also provided documentation to CBP, then again to ICE.

"It does not take that long," she said. "They have access to the system and they can check if he was born here or not. Despite having this visa, it does not take away from the fact that he was born in the United States."

