The father of a New Zealand woman who has been held in a US immigration detention centre for three weeks with her six-year-old son is hopeful the pair will be released by the end of the week.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detained Sarah Shaw and her youngest son after they attempted to re-enter the US from Canada on 24 July.
Shaw had just dropped her two eldest children at Vancouver airport, so they could take a direct flight back to New Zealand for a holiday with their grandparents, when her father, Rod Price, received a panicked phone call.
“She went to go back across into the US and then I got a frantic call to say that she’s being detained and ‘they’re about to take my phone off me’ and ‘they’re locking me up for the night’,” Price told local broadcaster RNZ.
On Thursday, her friend Victoria Besancon told the Guardian that Shaw had received documents indicating she would be released, but the immigration centre was yet to verify the details to Shaw’s lawyer.
Price was feeling confident and said there was a “90% chance” Shaw would be released on Friday afternoon, New Zealand time.
Ice confiscated Shaw’s phone and transported her and her son to a Dilley immigration processing centre in south Texas, many states away from her home in Washington state, Besancon said on Wednesday.
The ordeal had been “horrible”, Besancon said. “It really is kind of like being in jail ... it has been absolutely devastating and it’s kind of barbaric.”
Shaw has what is known as a “combo card”– a temporary immigration document that includes employment authorisation, which she obtained through her employment at a maximum-security juvenile facility, and an I-360 approval, which can grant immigration status to domestic violence survivors.
Shaw, who has lived in Washington for more than three years, had recently received a letter confirming her “combo card” renewal, not realising that the I-360 element of her visa was still pending approval.
Shaw’s lawyer, Minda Thorward, told local media in Seattle that it was a simple administrative error and border patrol had the discretion to parole her into the US. Her children, meanwhile, had the correct travel documents to enter the US.
“There was absolutely no reason for [her son] to be detained. It’s unconscionable,” Thorward said.
New Zealand’s foreign affairs ministry said it was in contact with Shaw but could not comment further on the case due to privacy issues.
The Guardian has contacted Ice and the US embassy in New Zealand for comment.
Shaw’s case is the latest in a growing list of foreigners facing interrogation, detainment and deportations at the US border, including a British tourist, three Germans Lucas Sielaff, Fabian Schmidt and Jessica Brösche, and a Canadian and an Australian who were each held and then deported, despite having valid work visas.
