An Edmonton-born man who spent months in ICE detention is back in Canada, where he is now sharing his story about the conditions and hurdles he faced while detained.
Curtis Wright, 40, who spent most of his life living in the United States, was held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas for nine months after returning from a business trip to Mexico in November.
Wright said the reason he was detained stems from a misdemeanor drug possession charge from when he was 17 years old.
Wright said he was motivated to fight to remain in the U.S to try to be with his two young sons from a previous marriage, aged 8 and 11, who are in Texas.
Wright said he was returned to Canada in mid-August, and is temporarily staying at his parents’ house in Kelowna, B.C., with his fiancée, Kayla Thomsen, and their two-year-old daughter.
In an interview with Edmonton AM on Monday, Wright detailed the challenges he faced while struggling to remain south of the border.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Edmonton AM10:57Edmonton born Curtis Wright is back in Canada after nine months in ICE detention centres in the U.S.
Curtis Wright is now safely back in Canada. The born-and-raised Edmontonian spent the past nine months in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centres. He was detained by ICE while returning to his home in Texas after a work trip to Mexico in November. The reason he was detained stems from a misdemeanor drug-possession charge when he was 17 years old. He was deported back to Canada earlier this month.
What happened when you returned to Texas after a work trip to Mexico?
When I was going through Immigration and Customs, they asked me to go into secondary screening, which isn’t uncommon. I’ve been through that before, but this began pretty differently.
He right away asked me, “Were you charged with misdemeanor possession back in 2004?”
I said “Yes, I was.”
He said, “OK, make a text to one of your family members. Let them know that this is going to be a while because we’re going to have to investigate this further.”
Once I did that, they brought me into a back interview room where I was interrogated almost as if I were on trial, like I had done something wrong at that moment.
Then once the interview was over, he said, “As of this moment, you’re now being detained. You’ll be taken to a federal facility, and you won’t have a court date until Dec. 3rd.” And this was on Nov. 6.
From that point, they moved me to a separate room and then from there they shackled me, put the waist chains around me, handcuffed me to my waist, put on ankle shackles, as if I was some kind of murder convict, and had me wait in a cell then took me to the facility.
Has anything like this ever happened to you previous to this encounter?
Never. I’ve gone in and out of the U.S. probably over 100 times before this happened. I came to Kelowna to visit my parents at their home just this last summer just a few months before this detainment.
I was under the impression that they were focusing on the worst of the worst, like gang members, and people of that nature. I didn’t realize that they were going to be detaining me.
What options did they give you about what could happen next?
Really nothing. The guy informed me that because I was being federally detained there’s no bond available to me because they marked me as a visiting alien reentering the country.
I was told later that if ICE had grabbed me in the country, I would have been able to get a bond potentially so I could fight my case outside.
But they purposely marked me as a visiting alien so that I couldn’t get a bond. And then he said, “You’re just going to have to go through the court case.” So that’s essentially what I did.
Then that took this whole nine-month process to go through that court case?
They keep pushing your court case back because the whole idea behind it is they want you to give up. They don’t want you to fight your case.
They put you in these horrible facilities and treat you very, very poorly, and they continue to push your court cases back. So you think you’re going to court and then they say, “No, actually it’s going to be in another three weeks. Oh wait, no, it’s going to be in another two weeks.” Because they want you to give up and just go home.
How many times did that happen to you where they pushed it?
For my first court date, it happened four times. I was originally scheduled to have it on Dec. 3 but didn’t end up having it until Jan. 16.
After about five months, I finally went through the court case process and lost.
You’re supposed to get three dates and your third date is your trial date where a judge renders a decision. But I didn’t even get the opportunity to fight my case. On my second court date, they just said “Order of removal.”
Then I appealed after that and we tried to get a federal release through a writ of habeas corpus. The whole idea behind that was to get out so I could fight outside, and then we’d continue to do continuances and continuances and continuances waiting for the next political regime or hopefully winning my appeal. But I was never given the opportunity to do that.
You were fighting to be released back into Texas. That’s where you called home. I understand that’s where some of your family is as well?
The main reason that I was fighting to stay in Texas is because I have two sons with a previous wife.
I knew if I went to Canada they wouldn’t be able to come with me. At the time I had 50/50 possession, so I got them half the year.
I fought because I wanted to stay in my children’s lives as much as I possibly could, so that’s why I stayed for nine months until we exhausted every option.
We had Republican senators write in asking for my release. We had Democrat senators write in asking for my release. We had Texas state representatives, even one individual who was on the board of commissions for Texas State prisons and detention centres, he wrote to ICE, the federal courts, the immigration courts. They all did.
Then I fought my case and we tried federal release. We went to the media. I exhausted every option because, to me, it was important to leave with no regrets, knowing that I did everything I could to stay with my boys. And that one day when I have to tell them why Dad had to leave, I can tell them with honesty that, “Your father did everything he possibly could.” But it just didn’t work out.
Can you tell us about what you experienced over those nine months in those centres?
It’s the hygiene side of it. There’s dirt, mould and grime everywhere. Everything’s run down. I mean, you’re sharing a small bathroom and showers with 100 men. There are a hundred men in the dorms. The food is just abysmal.
But more than that, it’s the officers that are there in place to be security for you. They yell at you. They curse at you. They threaten you. Solitary confinement is always one of their biggest threats, or moving you to different dorms or taking away privileges.
The lights are on 24 hours a day. You’re sleeping in a steel bunk bed with no pillow. You’re asked to be counted in your bed five times a day, and it’s almost like a psychological and emotional beatdown.
Because, as I mentioned before, they want to make things as uncomfortable as they possibly can for you because they want you to give up and just go back to your home country. You feel like you’re less than human.
When did you finally decide to be deported to Canada?
I finally made that decision about eight months in, and then it took about another month to get out.
Because my lawyer had informed me that in the federal courts there’s an ongoing case right now pertaining to permanent residence and due process, and that the judge that had my habeas corpus for a federal release was waiting on the ruling of that case, and it had already been ongoing for several months.
The lawyer said the case “could go on for two more weeks or it could go on for two more years. So, you could wait another year, year and a half, let’s say, and then the ruling goes against permanent residents. And then you can’t get release on that anyways.”
At that point, I realized it was just the best thing for my family because even though I’m the one locked up in there, my whole family’s going through it. I feel like we were all stuck in this terrible, terrible nightmare.
I thought it was important for the whole family that we just kind of move on and find a way to just move forward with our lives the best way we can and accept what is, and so that’s what we’re doing.
But again, I love Canada and there was no concern about coming back here. It was simply trying to stay there for my sons.
What are your next steps from here?
My career has been in oil and gas and so, being from Edmonton, it’s kind of a perfect spot to pick that right back up. Thankfully, my company that I was working for before in Houston, is going to be opening up a Canadian division just for me to run and try to grow here in Canada.
I’ve had a lot of wonderful people in my corner, including my employer, and they’re going to continue to stick by me and most of my family is in Edmonton — all my aunts, uncles, cousins, my brother and his wife and children are there.
