BROOKLYN — AN 8-YEAR-OLD U.S. citizen was held for nearly seven months in a Brooklyn shelter despite his legal status.
The boy was born in Mexico but had U.S. citizenship through his mother, who was born in the U.S. He was picked up in November at the U.S. and Mexico border by immigration agents and sent to a shelter in Brooklyn.
After he was taken into custody, his grandmother was contacted by the Office of Refugee Resettlement and told federal officials that the child was a U.S. citizen. According to the family, they were told by officials that that was irrelevant.
The boy was only released on June 10 to his grandmother after an immigration judge dismissed his immigration case in a federal lawsuit.
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