US Citizen Deported as Illegal Alien Returns to Texas, Mulls Possible Suit
Alberto Delgado was born in the United States. But he doesn’t speak English very well, because he grew up in Mexico with his mother after his parents divorced.
Delgado was detained and questioned for eight hours after a traffic stop in South Texas in June. He says he showed U.S. immigration agents his birth certificate, a Texas state ID card and his Social Security card to prove his U.S citizenship, the Houston Chronicle reported.
But border patrol agents didn’t believe the identification belonged to Delgado, and Delgado said he eventually signed paperwork agreeing to be removed to Mexico because he wanted to be released from custody and thought that he could fight the case from Houston. But after he was sent to Mexico, he spent nearly three months there before being allowed to return, the newspaper recounts.
Meanwhile, he lost his construction job and is now looking for work, planning to study to improve his English and mulling a possible lawsuit.
He is being represented, pro bono, by Houston immigration attorney Isaias Torres, who predicts that such cases will become more common because of a large number of number of minor children who are U.S. citizens being sent to Mexico along with deported parents.
“I don’t believe this is an isolated incident,” says Torres of Delgado’s experience.
