BREAKING: American Held by ICE for 25 Days Released. May Still Be Deported As Government Disputes Citizenship Records

By Nick Valencia | January 8, 2025

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, MARYLAND— After 25 days in federal immigration custody, Dulce Consuelo Morales-Diaz, an American detained after a so-called Kavanaugh stop has been released.

Yet, despite stacks of documentation proving she was born in Prince George’s County, Maryland, the federal government has not ruled out the possibility of deporting her.

Morales-Diaz was released at the discretion of DHS sometime Wednesday after spending weeks, including the holidays, being transferred to multiple facilities across state lines in ICE custody.

She was taken into custody last month after being approached by federal immigration agents while walking outside a restaurant and speaking Spanish, according to prior reporting by Nick Valencia News.

Within days, her attorney submitted documentation showing Morales-Diaz was born in Prince George’s County, Maryland, but the government disputed it and she remained in custody.

“My client has gone through a nightmare that other Americans could potentially get wrapped up in,” her attorney Victoria Slatton said. “I hope this is not precedent.”

Morales-Diaz is now out of custody and with her family, but legally she remains in limbo. Slatton has filed a motion asking an immigration judge to reopen the case and dismiss it entirely.

DHS, however, has filed its own motion opposing the reopening, signaling that the government may still fight to keep the case alive.

Slatton says she has spoken with DHS officials directly and is hopeful the situation will be resolved “within days.” But she is equally clear-eyed about the broader implications.

Americans, she warns, should be paying attention.

Slatton fears other Americans could easily be swept into under the framework of what critics call “Kavanaugh stops,” an enforcement practice they argue has enabled racial profiling of anyone with brown skin.

Government Knew She Was a U.S. Citizen Within Days, Attorney Says

What alarms Slatton most is her belief that the government had confirmation of her client’s citizenship, yet Morales-Diaz remained in ICE custody for weeks.

The discrepancy stems from a complicated biographical detail: years ago, Morales-Diaz moved from the U.S. to Mexico with the intention of staying long-term. After receiving cartel threats, she fled back to the United States and was stopped at the border, Slatton said.

The details of Morales-Diaz’s interview that day at the border are being disputed. The government claims she stated the she was from Mexico, a claim that contradicted her U.S. birth certificate.

Complicating matters further, there is Mexican documentation claiming she was born in Mexico. Slatton says that record is not a medical birth certificate, but a parental verbal declaration, and that it is inconsistent with where her client was actually born: a hospital in Maryland.

“They kept saying her lawyers have submitted no proof that she was born inside the U.S., which was not true,” Slatton said.

“We had submitted everything to three different agencies.”

She says DHS could have released Morales-Diaz while reviewing discrepancies.

“They could have said, ‘We need to investigate this. We’re going to let her out in the meantime,’” she said. “But instead, they dug their heels in.”

Inside detention, Slatton says, conditions were “abhorrent.” Morales-Diaz missed the holidays. She missed family milestones. And she was repeatedly told she was not who she said she was.

In one court filing opposing the defense motion to reopen the case, DHS requested additional time, writing that Morales-Diaz would not be “inconvenienced” by remaining detained.

“When I read that, it felt like a gut punch,” Slatton said.

“To say that 10 more days is not even an inconvenience is a gross misunderstanding of what’s happening inside.”

A Direct Clash With Justice Kavanaugh’s Reasoning

Slatton says her client’s ordeal contradicts the very logic laid out by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who argued that an American mistakenly detained by immigration authorities would be quickly released once citizenship was verified, making such detentions merely an inconvenience.

Slatton believes her client’s case proves the opposite.

“Her status was cleared up, and yet she was still held,” she said.

The nightmare her client endured, she says, “goes against the Kavanaugh standard” and could happen again, especially to U.S. citizens who, like Morales-Diaz, have pigmentation in their skin.

The Fear That Lingers

What worries Slatton most is what this case signals for others.

“Not everyone has a lawyer in their corner,” she said.

“I used to work for DHS. I’m media savvy. I know the law really well. Not everyone has access to that.”

She fears a dangerous default.

“If the default is, ‘We’re going to detain you until you prove you’re a citizen,’ then I think we’ve lost a lot of what makes us Americans,” she said.

Slatton says she hopes DHS treats this as a wake-up call. She is not confident it will.

“I hope this is a learning experience,” she said.

“Right now, I don’t see protocols changing.”

As for her client, Slatton is unwavering.

“There’s no doubt in my mind,” she said. “100% certain. She’s a citizen.”

Dulce Consuelo Morales-Diaz is home tonight.

But she is still in the system, waiting for the country she was born in to say, without qualification, that she belongs.