Arizona officials have been coming under a lot of scrutiny lately after the state government decided to pass the immigration law allowing police officers to racially profile suspected immigrants and demand verification of their natural citizenship.
Now it seems as if the criticism is going to hit an all-time high after an American citizen was arrested and detained after being accused of being an illegal immigrant.
According to published reports, Eduardo Caraballo, a U.S. citizen born in the United States, was detained for over three days in Chicago on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant.
Caraballo, who was originally arrested in conjunction with a stolen car states that after his mother posted bail, he was not able to go home due to authorities questioning his immigration status.
Despite the fact Caraballo produced identifying documents and even his birth certificate, he was held by federal immigration authorities over the weekend and threatened with deportation.
After fighting for three days with officials, Caraballo was finally released after Chicago state congressman, Luis Guiterrez — a vocal supporter of immigration reform — intervened on his behalf. Guiterrez stated,
“In Arizona, they want everybody to be able to prove they’re legally in the country. They want everybody to prove that they’re an American citizen. Here we had an American citizen, that the federal government… could not determine, for more than three days, his status as an American citizen. It’s very, very, very dangerous ground to tread.”
Caraballo was born in Puerto Rico, making him a natural-born citizen of the United States. He moved to the mainland as an infant, and now lives in Chicago. Reports also indicate that Caraballo “is considering legal action.”
