Customs and Border Protection chief Brian Hastings was on a depraved roll Thursday, first telling a House committee that guidance he couldn’t exactly point to allows the agency to separate kids from HIV-positive parents at the border. Depravity segued into flat-out lying, when he also alleged that the U.S.-born citizen officials detained for nearly a month never claimed to be a U.S. citizen—a lie easily disproven by the government’s own documents, Dallas News reports.
“Throughout the process,” Hastings alleged to the House Judiciary Committee, “and while he was with Border Patrol,” 18-year old Francisco Erwin Galicia “claimed to be a citizen of Mexico with no immigration documents to be in or remain in the U.S.” But Francisco’s attorney showed Dallas News a Department of Homeland Security document given to them that stated “you falsely represented yourself to be a citizen of the United States for the purpose of furthering your entry into the United States.”
Like any U.S. citizen at a Border Patrol checkpoint, attorney Claudia Galan “said Galicia told authorities that he is a U.S. citizen from the moment he was detained at the Falfurrias checkpoint,” showing him his Texas ID, wallet-sized birth certificate, and Social Security card. Because traveling while brown apparently trumps U.S. documents, Galicia was detained for more than three weeks, even after his mom Sanjuana brought even more documents confirming his U.S. citizenship.
The border official’s statement to Congress “is incorrect,” Galan said. “At the moment he was stopped, he showed them his documents and he kept saying he was a U.S. citizen.” Francisco was kept detained anyway in conditions that were so bad he said he lost 26 pounds from hunger and even considered agreeing to self-deport just so he could escape his fucking misery. “I just needed to get out of there,” he said.
Francisco was released after 26 days in Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody not because officials were finally convinced his documents were real, but because of public outrage following reporting from Dallas News and others.
“Mommy, they let me go,” were his first words to his mom. “I'm free.” Unfortunately his brother Marlon, who was undocumented and detained along with him, was deported to Mexico. The family now plans to sue both CBP and ICE, and here’s to hoping they get justice.
Hastings, however, is a sworn officer of the United States who appears to have lied to the United States Congress and won’t just be able to stay in his job, but will probably also get away with it, considering how often Trump administration officials already lie to Congress and get away with it. Punishment is only for the little people, and even more so these days.