A New Zealand woman and her six-year-old son, who were held for more than three weeks at a US immigration centre after being detained crossing the Canada-US border, have been released.
In a short update on Saturday, the woman’s friend Victoria Besancon said Sarah Shaw and her son were safely home. The family would be taking some time to settle in before speaking about their experience, she added.
Shaw, 33, who has lived in Washington state for just over three years, was detained with her son when they attempted to re-enter the US after dropping her two eldest children at Vancouver airport on 24 July, so they could fly to New Zealand for a holiday with their grandparents.
Shaw’s father, Rod Price, told Radio New Zealand: “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’.”.
Besancon, who had helped to raise money for Shaw’s legal fight, said it had been a “terrifying” and “barbaric” ordeal for her friend.
“Sarah thought she was being kidnapped,” Besancon told the Guardian this week. “They didn’t really explain anything to her at first, they just kind of quietly took her and her son and immediately put them in like an unmarked white van.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) confiscated Shaw’s phone and transported the mother and son to the Dilley immigration processing center in south Texas, many states away from her home, Besancon said. Foreign nationals caught up in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown have similarly been transported to centres far from their homes, support networks and legal representation.
An Ice spokesperson said: “The Dilley detention center is retrofitted for families. Adults with children are housed in facilities that provide for their safety, security and medical needs.” They added that “parents, who are here illegally, can take control of their departure” by self-deporting through a government-issued app.
Shaw is on a “combo card” visa, made up of an employment visa, which she obtained through her employment at a maximum security juvenile facility, and an I-360 visa, which can grant immigration status to domestic violence survivors.
Shaw had recently received a letter confirming her visa renewal, not realising that the I-360 element of her visa was still pending approval.
“It wasn’t until she tried to come back across the border that she realised only half of the combination card – because it’s only one physical card – had been fully approved,” said Besancon.
“It has been absolutely horrible,” Besancon said, adding that aside from the staff, Shaw and her son were the only English speakers. She said they were locked in their shared bedroom from 8pm to 8am and not allowed to wear their own clothes.
A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said: “When someone with an expired parole leaves the country and tries to re-enter the US, they will be stopped in compliance with our laws and regulations. If they are accompanied by a minor, CBP will follow all protocols to keep families together or arrange care with a legal guardian. Immigration law will be enforced, and our officers and agents will act accordingly.”
Shaw’s case is the latest in a growing list of foreigners facing interrogation, detention 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.
The union representing Shaw, the Washington Federation of State Employees, had called for her release.
“The trauma this has already caused for her and her son may never be healed,” said Mike Yestramski, the union’s president and a psychiatric social worker at Western State hospital.
