DALLAS _ Francisco Erwin Galicia, the Dallas-born teen who was held for nearly a month by U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is one major step closer to having his U.S. citizenship fully recognized by the U.S. government.
Galicia, whose story made national headlines and who is still technically facing ICE deportation proceedings, received his U.S. passport from the State Department by mail on Thursday just days before his 19th birthday.
"Now I can travel without hassle. I can go see my grandma and family in Reynosa without being concerned about being stopped at the crossing point," Galicia told The Dallas Morning News by phone Thursday night just moments after returning home from soccer practice and seeing his U.S. passport.
Galicia and his attorney, Claudia Galan, filed an application for the passport last month. Galan said she filed a collection of documents, including both a copy of his U.S. birth certificate and a later copy of a Mexican birth certificate, letters of support and photos, as proof that he was in fact born in Dallas in December 2000.
Sanjuana Galicia, Galicia's mother, has said she filed for the Mexican birth certificate in 2003 after Mexican school officials told her that Francisco needed proof of Mexican citizenship in order to attend school.
Francisco Galicia faces an almost year-long wait to have his case heard before an immigration judge unless Immigration and Customs Enforcement ends its case against him before August 2020.
The Dallas-born 18-year-old high school senior who spent nearly a month in the custody of U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement learned last week that an immigration court in Harlingen, Texas, has ordered him to appear in August 2020.
His Dallas birth certificate was registered in early 2001 by the City of Dallas' Vital Statistics Division. He was born at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
Galan said the issuance of the passport is a clear signal that the U.S. government is recognizing his citizenship, even as he faces pending deportation proceedings. She learned in October that he's been scheduled for an immigration court date in Harlingen in August 2020.
She added that her immediate next step is to file a motion in immigration court to terminate the proceedings against Galicia.
"I'd been waiting for this passport to be granted and delivered so that I could include it as evidence in the motion to terminate the deportation proceedings," Galan said. "I'm not expecting a response from the judge so soon because of the holiday, but at least this is going to be in the mail now."
The News reached out to ICE and asked if the issuance of the U.S. passport to Galicia was enough proof for the agency to close the proceedings against him. We also asked if they had investigated Galicia's initial claim of U.S. citizenship.
ICE provided the following statement: "As a matter of policy, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not comment on pending litigation. However, lack of comment should not be construed as agreement with or stipulation to any of the allegations. As part of the Department of Homeland Security's homeland security mission, our trained law enforcement professionals adhere to the Department's mission and values, and uphold our laws while continuing to provide the nation with safety and security."
ICE sent that same statement in response to two previous reports from The News about Galicia's ongoing deportation proceedings.
According to the State Department, only U.S. citizens and U.S. nationals are eligible for U.S. passports. A U.S. national is "a person owing permanent allegiance to a state."
But "only a relatively small number of persons acquire U.S. nationality without becoming U.S. citizens," per the State Department.
Galicia said obtaining the passport is a relief. Since his release, he has been getting regular medical checkups and receiving counseling related to his 23-day ordeal in a Border Patrol facility.
The News first broke the story of his detention on July 22.
Galicia was detained June 27 at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas, about 75 miles north of McAllen in the Rio Grande Valley. He was traveling to Ranger College in North Texas with his younger brother, Marlon Galicia, and three other friends for a soccer scouting event.
Border Patrol agents pulled the car aside for additional inspection and discovered that Marlon and another one of the passengers were in the country without authorization.
Galicia told agents that he is a U.S. citizen and presented them with a Texas ID, a Social Security card and wallet-sized copy of his birth certificate, but he said agents doubted his claim and the validity of his documents.
Agents fingerprinted Galicia and discovered a visitors visa that his mother, Sanjuana Galicia, had solicited for him when he was a minor.
She obtained the visa for him when he was a minor because her name doesn't appear on his U.S. birth certificate, she said. She said she feared the visa was the only way she could travel back to the U.S. with him.
When Galicia was born in Dallas in late December 2000, his mother, who was then in the country without authorization, was using a fake ID to work, she said. Parkland hospital staff used the name on the fake ID on Galicia's birth certificate.
Galicia said he was forced to sleep in a crowded cell with about 60 other men and wasn't allowed to shower for the more than three weeks he was in Border Patrol custody. He also said he wasn't allowed to make any phone calls and that conditions were so bad, he almost opted to self-deport just to escape.
A Border Patrol chief confirmed at a July 25 House Judiciary oversight committee hearing that the visa confusion was indeed why Galicia was initially detained but did not explain why his detention lasted 23 days.
