A U.S. citizen has been deported to Mexico despite telling arresting officers that he had proof of citizenship at home, according to a new report.
According to Univision’s Lidia Terrazas, 25-year-old Denver-born Brian Morales was threatened with either deportation or prison time following a traffic stop in Texas by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents.
This is the latest in a string of incidents involving U.S. citizens and Department of Homeland Security agents during the first 18 months of Trump’s second term in office. In addition several American children have been deported alongside their parents, including a child undergoing cancer treatment in the U.S.
Meanwhile, three U.S. citizens have been killed by federal immigration officers this year.
A spokesperson for DHS contested Morales’ story, telling The Independent, “CBP did NOT arrest a U.S. citizen. On April 3, U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Rocksprings, Texas Station interviewed Bryan Jose Morales-Garcia after he was encountered by Gillespie County Sheriff’s deputies near Fredericksburg. Agents determined Morales-Garcia was illegally in the U.S. through record checks. Morales-Garcia also admitted he is a Mexican national and he entered the country illegally. He was subsequently removed to Mexico on April 7.”
“This is exactly what we’ve been warning about for years as the anti-immigrant rhetoric and legislation has heated up,” Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro told Univision.
“ICE is often ignoring people when they say ‘hey I am a U.S. citizen here’s the proof. It’s because they want people gone.”
In a video posted on Instagram, Terrazas reported that Morales, who does not speak English, was born in the U.S. but was taken to Mexico by his parents as a toddler.
He said he came back to the U.S. as an adult, crossing the border legally using his birth certificate. He was in the process of obtaining his Real ID.
When he was pulled over with his construction crew by CBP, he did not have ID on him, but told officers that he could get his Social Security number, birth certificate, and medical records from home to prove his case. However, officers did not believe him and deported him on April 7th.
According to Terrazas, Morales told three different agents about his citizenship status, but instead of listening to him or looking at his documentation, they threatened him with five years in prison for fraud.
He told Terrazas that he became so afraid of prison time, and of being unable to see his daughter, that he signed voluntary removal papers and told the officers “what they wanted to hear.”
He was then not told where in Mexico he was being deported to, and when he arrived, he realized it was a place he had never been to before. According to Morales, his boss was also placed into ICE custody, despite being a U.S. citizen with proof of citizenship at home.
Rep. Castro likened the stop to “a kind of racial profiling.” Saying, “They’re not just targeting undocumented Latinos, they’re often targeting any Latino and some U.S. citizens are going to get caught up in that.”
Political ethicist Norman Ornstein surmised on X “Sue the s*** out of them and fire everyone who refused to look at his documents.”
This latest DHS incident comes shortly at the start of Markwayne Mullin‘s tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security following on from the scandal ridden reign of his presesscor, Kristi Noem.
