Modbert
Daydream Believer
- Sep 2, 2008
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Deported man, possibly American, was halted by Border Patrol | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
I'm sure some of you here don't care, because after all, that's just one less mexican for you to throw out. However, this is a major screwup of epic proportions. Especially since they pressured him to sign these documents despite the fact he had all the legal documents that show he is a citizen. We'll see how this story develops, I could end up being wrong, but it looks like an open and shut case to me.
Immigration officials are reviewing whether a 19-year-old man deported last week from South Texas is actually a U.S. citizen born in Houston
Luis Alberto Delgado said he and his older brother were stopped last Thursday by a Jim Wells County Sheriff captain, who called the U.S. Border Patrol.
Despite carrying a birth certificate showing he was born at Houston's Ben Taub Hospital, a state of Texas ID card and a Social Security card, Delgado said he was taken into Border Patrol custody, questioned for eight hours and pressured into signing paperwork that cleared the way for his removal to Mexico.
Delgado, who returned to Houston three years ago after spending much of his childhood in Mexico, said immigration officials were suspicious because he spoke very little English. He said they kept saying, "No, these papers aren't yours."
A U.S. Border Patrol spokesman said that officials do not comment on individual cases. A spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, Chris Van Deusen, confirmed that the state has a birth certificate on file matching the information on one provided to authorities by Delgado. The Houston Chronicle reviewed a certified copy of the birth certificate.
U.S. immigration officials have faced scrutiny in recent years over allegations that they have deported U.S. citizens, including a high-profile case of a mentally disabled Los Angeles man who was lost for months in Mexico in 2007. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said some cases in the past have been "appalling," but she was encouraged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary John Morton has taken steps to help revise guidelines to prevent such situations.
He said he was detained from 4 p.m. to midnight and pressured to sign paperwork that resulted in his being sent to Matamoros.
"The official that was holding me told me I had to sign them … or I would have to stay there," Delgado said.
"I thought if I signed them, they'd let me go free, and I could return to Houston," he said.
When Delgado tried to come back to the U.S. through the port of entry, he said he was told he could face up to 20 years in prison for entering the country after being deported.
I'm sure some of you here don't care, because after all, that's just one less mexican for you to throw out. However, this is a major screwup of epic proportions. Especially since they pressured him to sign these documents despite the fact he had all the legal documents that show he is a citizen. We'll see how this story develops, I could end up being wrong, but it looks like an open and shut case to me.