In 2019, a 9-year-old girl, Julia, and her 14-year-old brother, Oscar were in a car returning to the United States with their mother’s friend. They had to return to San Diego after a brief trip in order to attend school. When they arrived at the border at 7am the traffic was moving very slowly through the customs checkpoint according to an article published by Telemundo.
The brother and sister and two two other children got out of the car to walk across the border since it would be hours quicker than if they waited to go through in the car. The adult they were traveling with was ordering an Uber to pick the children up on the US side and bring them to school.
Julia and Oscar both had valid US passports with them when they arrived at the border checkpoint. The other two children they were with went through to the US without an issue. Julia and Oscar were taken aside for a secondary inspection where they searched their backpacks and then took Julia to a separate room. The officers question them separately and according to court records, and Julia was questioned in a room alone with an officer who was “known for getting confessions.”
They allege that Julia is not his sister but actually his cousin using Julia’s passport. He says that he told the officers that Julia was indeed his sister and not his cousin multiple times. Despite Julia and Oscar both telling the officers they were wrong. The officers continued to interrogate the two minors without a parent present. Eventually the officers threaten to take Oscar to jail for human trafficking and he might be charged with sex trafficking a minor unless he signs a statement which says that Julia is his cousin.
They held Oscar until the following day before releasing him but they did not release Julia. Her mother was not allowed to see Julia or speak with her because they said she was not the girl’s mother. Not knowing what to do she contacted Telemundo who contacted CBP and the Mexican Consulate. It was not until almost 48 hours later that the minor was released from custody.
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, “The two children remain distressed following the incident. Oscar’s grades declined and his parents sought therapy for him. Julia, who was also in therapy following her detention, also suffered insomnia and nightmares that have continued for years, [Judge] Curiel wrote in his ruling.”
“No employee interviews were conducted. All audio and video evidence was deleted. CBP simply put out a press release blaming the children and swept the rest under the rug, If CBP will try to hide the truth when U.S. citizen children are treated so outrageously, imagine how often misconduct against undocumented children will go on uncorrected. I find that deeply troubling.” Joseph McMullen, Attorney for the Family
In 2022 the family brought a lawsuit against CBP for unlawfully detaining the two US citizen children, improperly interrogating them, and intentionally inflicting psychological harm. In a 2024 decision the Judge ruled in their favor and criticized the officers in his ruling for failing to interview family members who could have provided proof of the girl’s identity and not reviewing documents in the girl’s backpack that could have quelled their suspicions.
“Common sense and ordinary human experience indicate that it was not reasonable to detain Julia for 34 hours to determine her identity or to detain Oscar for about 14 hours to determine whether he was smuggling or trafficking his sister when multiple means of investigation were available and officers unreasonably failed to pursue them,” Judge Curiel wrote in his decision.
The Judge awarded $250,000 to the children’s mother, $175,000 to Oscar and $1.1 million to Julia.
The attorney for the family said he appreciated the ruling and thanked the Judge for allowing “the opportunity to examine at trial, the high-level CBP officials who were complicit in this outrageous conduct” according to the Las Angeles Times Article.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Despite the stats posted by DHS it is not uncommon for US citizens and even US citizen children to be wrongfully detained for extended periods of time by immigration officials. In the same year (2019) an eighteen-year-old US citizen high school student who was born in Texas was jailed for weeks by CBP without being charged according to an article from CNN.
He was held in atrocious overcrowded conditions that were so bad that he lost 28 pounds during the 27 days he was detained. There were 70 other men being detained in the same cell with only a single toilet that had no door or wall or privacy of any kind. They were given wipes “every few days” to clean themselves. The teen said that the wipes were useless because they were covered in so much dirt. He said that when told the officers he had the right to call an attorney he was told, “you have no rights.”
His attorney said he was given the run around by ICE. After he provided ample proof of the teen’s US citizenship including his full birth certificate, ICE continued to detain him two weeks and initiated removal proceedings against him trying to deport him.
The teen did not bring legal action against CBP or ICE and has remained remarkably positive about the experience of being kidnapped by his own government for three weeks. In the interview he did with CNN he said, “It’s made me stronger. I see life differently after seeing how other people have been suffering. It’s made me understand many things like how you can live your life while others are suffering.”
“It’s made me stronger. I see life differently after seeing how other people have been suffering. It’s made me understand many things like how you can live your life while others are suffering.”