Our Immigration System--Not At All Afflicted with Racial Profiling....

The story of a Mexican-American kid who had his birth certificate with him when cops pulled him over and was forced to sign a statement saying it was a forgery and was then deported is truly disgusting.

Luis Alberto Delgado, 19, was carrying his American birth certificate, Social Security card and Texas ID when he was pulled over in a routine traffic stop on June 17, according to Houston immigration lawyer Isaias Torres, who represented him in his legal battle for repatriation.

A South Texas sheriff’s deputy who apparently believed the documents were not authentic handed Delgado over to U.S. border agents. After eight hours of questioning, Torres said, Delgado felt pressured to sign a document agreeing to voluntary removal from the country and waiving his right to a lawyer. The Border Patrol then drove Delgado to Matamoros and left him, he said.

He was finally able to return home over the weekend, Torres said.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection service said it could not comment specifically on Delgado’s case. But in a statement it said, “When an individual requests and is granted a voluntary return, they sign a notice of rights where they are admitting to being in the U.S. illegally and give up their right to a hearing in Immigration Court.”

...

“They kept saying, ‘These are not your documents. You’re lying to us. You’re going to go prison for 20 years’,” Torres said. “They basically wore him down. He’s a 19-year-old kid.”

With the resurgence of open racism in the U.S., we increasingly define citizenship by color and language more than actual, you know, citizenship.

Plus the fact that the Border Patrol has zero interest or incentive to find out whether the people they want to deport are actual citizens shows the deep institutionalized flaws within that agency.

And that this all took place in Texas surprises not at all.