A B.C. mother and her daughter, who now live in Texas, have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Edward Warner, his wife Tania and his seven-year-old step-daughter Ayla, who has autism, were coming back from a friend’s baby shower on Saturday when they went through an ICE checkpoint in Sarita, Texas.
“They asked for our identification, which we provided to them. I provided my driver’s licence. She provided her driver’s licence, work visa and her actual visa. Or passport, I’m sorry,” Warner told Global News.
He said they had been through the checkpoints before, which are permanently located on routes 77 and 281, and had never been asked for identification.
Tania and Ayla were born in Penticton, B.C., Warner is from Texas and they have lived together in Texas for five years.
“They brought Tania inside the building because they wanted to fingerprint her for more information and then about 15 minutes later, they came out and got Ayla and said they needed to fingerprint her for more information as well,” Warner said.
“Then, after about a 40- to 45-minute wait, they came back out and told me that they were not legal to be in the U.S. and that I was free to go.”
He said he has spoken with his wife and she and Ayla have now been moved to the Dilley Detention Centre in Dilley, Texas.
“Which gives them at least a bed to sleep on instead of the hard floor,” Warner said.
Previously, he said they were at the Ursula detention center in McAllen, where conditions were worse.
“They were sleeping on the floor using the floor masks to keep warm because all they had were those like tin space blanket things, and they said the food was terrible, the guards were awful, just the whole experience is gonna be very traumatic for the both of them,” Warner added.
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He said that at least in the Dilley Detention Center, he can give Tania money on her commissary and they can speak on the phone.
“I spoke with our attorney this morning, actually, right before this call and she’s going to start getting the packets together to turn in and we just want to get everything moving along,” Warner said.
“Hopefully, we can get them out of there soon.”
Tania applied to immigration four years ago, but was denied because Warner is a registered sex offender in the state of Texas because of an incident when he was a teenager.
Warner said their lawyer found a way to self-sponsor and his name is not attached to any of his wife’s or stepdaughter’s documents.
Immigration lawyer and policy analyst Richard Kurland, who is based in Vancouver and not directly connected to the case, said that even if Canadians have their paperwork up to date, they are still in jeopardy in the U.S.
“For any reason, the American immigration system can question your documents,” he said.
“Until those questions are answered, you may find yourself in a detention centre.”
Kurland said that if an agent has a question about someone’s paperwork, even if it is perfectly in order, the agent needs time to resolve that question.
“What’s different is that in Canada, we don’t have immigration checks after you cross the border or get out of the airport,” he said.
“In America, because of the heightened sensitivity to immigration issues, they have introduced domestic immigration checks. So even though this family was not entering the United States from Mexico, but was travelling within the United States, they were subject to American immigration questioning, resulting in detention.”
Kurland said it’s not uncommon and an agent has the right to incarcerate someone and place them in immigration detention until the agent is satisfied that there is confirmation of valid immigration documents.
“It’s a heartache to see a seven-year-old autistic child needlessly detained in an immigration pen that has been known to cage children in detention, and PTSD as an outcome would not be uncommon for that child,” he added.
“We do not do this in Canada. We do not detain seven-year-old autistic kids in immigration detention without solid reasoning. If this family is correct, their immigration paperwork was 100 per cent-a-OK, someone’s got a lot of explaining to do on the American side.”
Warner said that later on Friday, he spoke to Tania on the phone and she said she was told she had overstayed her stay and that is why she is being held.
He disputes that because he says her case is still being processed and she has refused to sign a document that ICE gave her that would keep her in detention for another 20 days.
Warner does not know what implications that might have for his wife and stepdaughter’s detention.
In a statement to Global News, Global Affairs Canada said that “Global Affairs is aware of multiple cases of Canadians currently or previously in immigration-related detention in the U.S and has received requests for information and assistance from individuals and their family members.”
Warner just hopes his wife and stepdaughter are able to come home soon.
“I know they have beds now,” he said. “I know that there’s a little school in there and there’s some toys, other kids, stuff like that. So it’ll be all right for Ayla.”
