American caught illegally crossing border into U.S.

A man apprehended attempting to cross the border illegally turned out to be a United States citizen, Border Patrol agents reported Thursday (November 7).

The 37-year-old, apprehended in a canyon near Imperial Beach, had no identification and at first claimed Mexican citizenship. Transported to a detention facility for processing before deportation, the man, whose name was not provided by agents, changed his story and claimed to be a U.S. citizen who had been taken to Mexico by his father at the age of two.

After providing his mother's name and the name of the hospital in Chicago where he claimed to have been born, agents were able to track down evidence of the man's citizenship, including an Illinois birth certificate.

Instead of being deported, the man was provided with temporary shelter and provided contact information for transportation services to reunite him with his mother, who is now living in Wisconsin.