A 25-year-old man from Central Texas, Brian José Morales García, has been permitted to return to the United States after being wrongfully deported to Mexico following a traffic stop in April. The federal government's decision to allow his return comes after his legal team presented new evidence supporting his American citizenship.
Morales García, who insists he was born in Denver, was stopped by police near Fredericksburg and subsequently deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) despite his claims of U.S. citizenship. He had provided authorities with copies of his birth certificate and social security number, but they were not believed, and he was deported anyway.
The situation changed when Morales García's legal team filed a lawsuit challenging his removal. They submitted additional documents, including hospital records, affidavits from witnesses, and his certified birth record from Colorado. The U.S. Department of Justice then allowed Morales García to return to the country while the lawsuit regarding his detention and deportation proceeds.
His lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, expressed concern about the federal government's handling of the case. "Brian's case raises an alarming pattern of behavior on the part of the federal government, demonstrating that they're willing to racially profile, detain, and deport U.S. citizens," she said. "In order to prove citizenship, someone who is born in this country has to provide more than just civil documentation about who they are, and the federal government being permitted to require this level of evidence for someone to simply reside in the U.S. is extremely concerning and unacceptable."
Morales García has dual citizenship in Mexico, and his Mexican identification had a different spelling of his first name and a different date of birth, which his mother attributed to a clerk in Mexico using common Spanish spelling for his first name and changing the birth date without double-checking his American paperwork.
The case highlights the rarity of American citizens being wrongly deported but the fact that it still occurs. A congressional government watchdog found that immigration agents "arrested 674, detained 121, and removed 70 potential U.S. citizens" between 2015 and 2020, according to a July 2021 report. An investigation from ProPublica found more than 170 U.S. citizens were detained by immigration agents in the first nine months of President Trump's second administration, but the report didn't identify anyone who was deported.
Morales García's civil rights lawsuit in federal court remains pending. The case has sparked a broader conversation about the rights of American citizens and the process by which they are identified and treated by immigration authorities.
The Texas Tribune, which has been following the case closely, has reviewed Morales' Mexican identification, which had a different spelling of his first name and a different date of birth. The Tribune also noted that it is rare for American citizens to be wrongly deported, but the practice still occurs.
The return of Morales García to the United States is a significant victory for him and his legal team, but it also serves as a reminder of the complexities and challenges faced by individuals in the immigration system. As the case continues to unfold, it will be interesting to see how the federal government addresses the issues raised and whether changes are made to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.
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