A 19-year-old U.S. citizen arrested by Customs and Border Protection agents earlier this month in Arizona and briefly prosecuted for illegal entry into the U.S. has intellectual disabilities, his family told CBS News.
Jose Hermosillo was arrested on April 8 by CBP in Tucson and detained for 10 days. His family provided documentation proving his American citizenship, days after being taken into custody, according to court records and Department of Homeland Security assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security argued his arrest, which has attracted national attention, was a “direct result of his own actions and statements.” A DHS spokesperson said Hermosillo approached a Border Patrol agent, said he had entered the U.S. illegally and identified himself as a Mexican citizen.
The department also posted a copy of Hermosillo’s sworn statement on X in which Hermosillo responded “yes” when asked if he had entered the U.S. illegally. The document shows a child-like signature that reads “Jose.”
In a phone interview Tuesday, Hermosillo’s parents told CBS News their son suffers from intellectual disabilities, cannot read or write and has trouble speaking. They said he could not have possibly known what he was signing when he was detained.
“He’s never been able to read and was always in special education classes in school,” Guadalupe Hermosillo, Hermosillo’s mother, said in Spanish.
According to his family, Hermosillo lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but was in Tucson earlier this month visiting his girlfriend’s family. He left his girlfriend’s relative’s home and wandered away during the night, and it was during this walk that Hermosillo was detained by CBP, his parents said.
Details of the arrest remain unclear. The initial April 9 criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Arizona by a Border Patrol agent says Hermosillo was found “at or near Nogales, Arizona without the proper immigration documents.” The document referred to Hermosillo as an “alien” and charged him with “improper entry,” a misdemeanor offense.
But DHS later stated that he was arrested in Tucson. According to court documents, Hermosillo told the judge he was a U.S. citizen during his first appearance. A day later, Hermosillo’s U.S. birth certificate was made available to the judge.
When CBS News spoke with Hermosillo, he appeared to be distraught and confused. He said he cried every night at the detention center, describing it as a very cold place filled with sick people who were constantly coughing.
“When I sleep, I dream that I’m still detained,” Hermosillo said over the phone in Spanish.
Representatives for DHS did not immediately respond to a CBS News request to comment on the allegations by Hermosillo and his parents, including about his intellectual disabilities.
Hermosillo’s mother said she was hospitalized after her son was detained because of the stress it caused.
“I cried every day,” she said. “I just wanted them to let him go.”
Jesus Hermosillo, Jose’s father, told CBS News he received a call from an immigration official asking to confirm whether Jose was a U.S. citizen. He said he told the officials his son was born in Albuquerque.
The Hermosillo family was able to locate their son at a detention center in Florence, Arizona. On April 17, a Tucson magistrate judge dismissed Hermosillo’s criminal case. He was released the next day.
CBS News has reached out to the court-appointed lawyer who represented Hermosillo. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said her office is looking into his case.
“My office has reached out to ICE for answers on how this was allowed to happen to an American citizen. It is wholly unacceptable to wrongfully detain U.S. citizens,” Mayes wrote on X.
