HOUSTON — A US-born 18-year-old has been released from immigration custody after wrongfully being detained for more than three weeks.

Francisco Erwin Galicia left a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Pearsall, Texas, on Tuesday. His lawyer, Claudia Galan, confirmed he had been released, less than a day after The Dallas Morning News reported about his detention.

Galicia lives in the border city of Edinburg, Texas, and was traveling north with friends when they were stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint. According to Galan and the Morning News, agents apprehended Galicia on suspicion that he was in the US illegally, even though he had a Texas state ID.

Galicia was detained for three weeks by Border Patrol, then transferred to the center.

Galan said she believed Galicia was ‘‘absolutely’’ a victim of racial profiling. The others in the vehicle with him were all Latinos, including his 17-year-old brother Marlon, who was born in Mexico and was in the US illegally. Marlon told the Morning News that he agreed to be returned to Mexico.

ICE and US Customs and Border Protection jointly issued a statement Wednesday accusing Galicia of having provided ‘‘conflicting reports regarding status of citizenship’’ while detained.

Associated Press