How a quick trip to B.C. landed a woman and her child in a Texas detention facility

A woman who made what she thought would be a quick cross-border trip has been locked up in a Texas detention centre for three weeks with her young son.

Sarah Shaw moved from New Zealand to Washington state with her three young kids in 2021. She lives in Everett and works for the state government.

After she divorced the man who sponsored her, Shaw was able to stay in the U.S. with what’s known as a combination card visa, which recently came up for renewal.

“Sarah’s work portion was approved. But they didn’t actually articulate to her that the travel portion was still pending,” said Shaw’s friend Victoria Besancon. “They just sent her the renewed visa, and told her she was good to go.”

So, Shaw figured she could cross the land border into B.C., drop her two youngest kids off at Vancouver International Airport for a flight to New Zealand to visit their grandparents and then drive back home with her six-year-old son Isaac.

“It was upon trying to re-enter the United States that suddenly everything went wrong,” said Besancon.

Shaw and her son were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on July 24. She told her friend they were placed in an unmarked white van.

“She thought she was being kidnapped. Honestly, she didn’t have a whole lot explained to her in the beginning, and she was absolutely terrified,” said Besancon.

Eventually, ICE agents told her because one part of her combination visa was still pending, she had invalidated it by briefly leaving the U.S., Besancon said.

‘Very much like prison’

Canadian-born immigration lawyer Len Saunders, who now lives and works in Blaine, Wash., said what happened to Shaw and her son used to be unheard of.

“In the past in a case like this, they would parole the person back in and have them fix whatever’s lacking, and they’d be on their way. They would never been detained like this,” said Saunders. “I’m shocked at the overzealousness that’s happening.”

Mother and son were sent to a family immigration detention centre in south Texas. They’ve now been there for three weeks, sharing a room with a dozen other detainees, according to Besancon.

“Those rooms are locked from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. There is a singular phone. There is a shared bathroom. It’s very much like prison,” said Besancon.

Saunders says what happened to the Shaws is a reminder that under President Donald Trump, it is not business as usual at the Canada-U.S. border.

“It’s exhausting hearing all these stories,” said Saunders. “If someone’s lacking documents or doesn’t have the proper passport or re-entry permits, instead of maybe having some discretion there, they’re just detaining them and deporting people.”

A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection tells CTV News that the agency follows “all protocols to keep families together” when a parent or guardian is detained at the border in the company of a minor.

“Immigration law will be enforced, and our officers and agents will act accordingly,” the spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement.

Pressure for release

Fearing she would be deported, Shaw’s friends contacted the media, and her colleagues in the Washington state government contacted ICE.

“There has been a huge amount of pressure on the facility from Washington representatives, from various news outlets for the release of Isaac, as well as the parole of Sarah. And thankfully, with all of the support that she has been given, they are releasing her and she will be able to come home this week,” said Besancon.

While Shaw expects she will be able to get her paperwork order to remain in the U.S., the single mom won’t be making any more trips to Canada.

“Sarah is very wary about ever crossing the border again,” said Besancon.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the detention centre in Dilley, Texas, that is housing the mother and son has been retrofitted to accommodate families.

“ICE takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously,” a spokesperson for the agency said in an email Friday.

“It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care.”

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Todd Coyne