Brian José Morales García (right) poses with his younger brother Miguel Angel Morales García.
Contributed by Brian Jose Morales Garcia/Contributed
A 25-year-old Austin man returned to the United States from Mexico over the weekend after being deported despite telling federal immigration officials he was a U.S. citizen, according to his attorneys.
Brian José Morales García was deported in April after a traffic stop in Fredericksburg. Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Gillespie County sheriff’s deputies who pulled over his work vehicle did not believe him when he said he was a U.S. citizen and contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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Federal immigration officials disputed that Morales García was a U.S. citizen and accused him of entering the country illegally, according to Morales García’s attorneys.
After Morales García’s legal team — Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, Dicky Grigg and Chad Dunn — filed a challenge to his deportation and provided additional documentation confirming his U.S. citizenship, the Justice Department allowed him to return to the United States while the lawsuit proceeds.
On Sunday, Lincoln-Goldfinch and Grigg went to Laredo to bring Morales García home.
In a post on X, Lincoln-Goldfinch said DHS released Morales García to her at the Laredo border after months of litigation. She said the legal team would continue pursuing compensation for damages.
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I am Brian’s lawyer.
I sued the Department of Homeland Security over their unlawful actions, and after months of litigation, they released him to me at the Laredo border and I brought him back home to Austin.
We will continue to pursue compensation for damages. https://t.co/QCudykP8SO
— Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch (@AttorneyKLG) September 1, 2026
“Let me be clear. This has been a traumatic experience for Brian. He was detained for several days, and he was kept outside of the country, where he has not been able to work and support his family over these last four months,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said during a Monday news conference. “This case is important for Brian and his own life, but this case is very important for this country, because there is no law in the U.S. that says a U.S. citizen, when they leave their house, has to have proof of their citizenship.”
“Our message to DHS is clear: you may not deport U.S. citizens for free,” she added. “There are consequences to actions like that.”
The American-Statesman reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, ICE, DHS and the Justice Department for further comment but did not immediately hear back Tuesday.
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Lincoln-Goldfinch said the legal team provided hospital records, witness statements, a handwriting expert’s analysis, baptismal records and statements from family members who said Morales García was born in the U.S. The additional evidence “tipped the scales” for Justice Department attorneys who agreed to allow Morales García to return, she said.
The Statesman reviewed copies of Morales García’s Colorado birth certificate, hospital records and a baptismal record from a few months after his birth, all of which were provided by Morales García and his attorneys. The Statesman independently corroborated the existence of the birth certificate and baptismal record. The records show that Morales García was born in Colorado. His attorneys said he grew up in Mexico but was living and working in Texas when he was detained and deported.
Morales García joined his legal team at the virtual news conference Monday. He spoke in Spanish, saying he felt disillusioned that officials did not believe he was a U.S. citizen because of the color of his skin and his inability to “dominate” English.
Morales García said his detention and deportation have changed the way he views government officials and interacts with them because he fears the same thing could happen again.
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He is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico, according to Lincoln-Goldfinch. She said Morales García’s lack of a U.S. passport — which she noted was a “privilege for most people and difficult to obtain administratively” — led to a “lot of skepticism” about his U.S. citizenship.
Morales García repeatedly told multiple officials that he was a U.S. citizen and had a birth certificate proving his citizenship, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. He was sometimes ignored and eventually threatened with five years in prison if he continued insisting he was a citizen, she said.
Lincoln-Goldfinch said Morales García was “ultimately coerced” into signing a deportation agreement.
“People need to understand that this is an outcome of overzealous immigration enforcement and cooperative agreements like the 287(g) agreements that DHS has spread throughout the state of Texas,” Lincoln-Goldfinch said Monday.
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She described the “task force model” as “hunting people of color.” She also warned that other cases involving U.S. citizens could go unreported, citing a ProPublica investigation that found immigration agents detained more than 170 U.S. citizens during the first nine months of the second Trump administration.
The federal civil rights lawsuit challenging Morales García’s removal, filed in the Western District of Texas, is pending. Grigg said the legal team plans to discuss Morales García’s legal options with him and ultimately seek damages from the federal and state governments.
“It’s critical that the officials who did this need to be held accountable and responsible for their conduct,” Grigg said.
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