Who is Jose Hermosillo, US citizen wrongfully arrested in Tucson for ‘illegally entering US’?

Jose Hermosillo, who was visiting Tucson from Albuquerque, was wrongfully arrested near the Border Patrol headquarters with an agent claiming the 19-year-old ‘illegally entered’ the US, AZPM reported. After 10 days in detention, Hermosillo was released following a magistrate judge's order to dismiss his case on Thursday.

AZPM cited court documents to add that Jose Hermosillo was not carrying identification at the time of his arrest. The documents said that he was detained ‘at or near Nogales, Arizona, without proper immigration documents’. The agent also said that he admitted to illegally entering the US.

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However, Hermosillo dismissed these claims. He and his girlfriend were visiting family in Tucson and had never been to Nogales. The two have a nine-month-old child together. According to the report, his girlfriend's aunt, identified as Grace Layva, said that she and her family made several calls before finding out that the 19-year-old was arrested and was at the Florence Correctional Center, which Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses to detain people.

AZPM said that a family member drove to the center, but was not given any information. Hermosillo's girlfriend's aunt said that he had identified himself as a US citizen.

“He did say he was a US citizen, but they didn't believe him. I think they would have kept him. I think they would have if they would have not got that information yesterday in the court and gave that to ICE and the Border Patrol. He probably would have been deported already to Mexico," Lavya told the publication.

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The case was dismissed on Thursday, and Jose Hermosillo was released later that night. The ICE is yet to issue a statement about the wrongful arrest.

This comes as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, earlier this week, said that it arrested 44 ‘illegal aliens’, including 24 criminals and one documented Paisas gang member.

“We remain committed to our mission of keeping communities safe by locating, arresting and removing criminal aliens who pose a threat to public safety and national security. ICE will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement. Routine operations will continue in south Texas and the nation to find the worst of all aliens in violation of our immigration laws. They will be subject to arrest, detention and – if found removable by final order – removal from the United States," ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Harlingen acting Field Office Director Robert Cerna said.