# @usatoday on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc83JwjDPhe
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/70007636-usatoday-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/497244a7ce.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-09-06T15:30:10.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** USA TODAY (@USATODAY) — https://gondola.cc/USATODAY

## Caption

Brian José Morales García was riding beside his boss through the Texas Hill Country, bound for an air-conditioning job near Fredericksburg, when a state trooper stopped their pickup truck.

Over the next four days, the 25-year-old was shuttled through a succession of detention facilities. Along the way, his attorney said, he was stripped, shoved and threatened with years in prison. By April 7, he was aboard a #deportation flight to Mexico.

The country sending him away was his own.

Morales García was born in Denver, according to a copy of his birth certificate reviewed by USA TODAY.

He is part of a long, largely uncounted history of U.S. citizens swallowed by the nation’s #immigration system. Read more about the broader issue at the link in our bio. 

📸: Courtesy of Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 117
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 5

## Tags

deportation, immigration

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