DALLAS _ Francisco Erwin Galicia, the Dallas-born U.S. citizen who spent three weeks in Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, was released Tuesday afternoon.
Galicia's complicated case garnered widespread national attention. The Dallas Morning News first reported Monday that Galicia, 18, had been held in CBP and ICE custody since June 27.
"The first thing he said to me was, 'Mommy, they let me go. I'm free,'" Sanjuana Galicia said by phone Tuesday afternoon.
Galicia's detention appears to have been a bureaucratic mix-up related to the fact that he had a U.S. birth certificate and also at one time a Mexican visitor's visa to travel to the U.S. from Mexico. Galicia, who lives in Edinburg, near the border, was born in Dallas.
Neither ICE nor CBP has responded to repeated requests for comment.
