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A New Zealand woman and her six-year-old son have spent the past three weeks in a US immigration detention facility after being stopped at the Canada-US border, a situation her advocate describe as a “terrifying” and unnecessary ordeal.
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Sarah Shaw, 33, has lived in Washington state for just over three years, working at a maximum security juvenile facility while raising her three children. On 24 July, she drove her two eldest children to Vancouver airport so they could fly directly to New Zealand for a holiday with their grandparents. But when Shaw attempted to return to the US with her youngest son, she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Her friend and advocate, Victoria Besancon, said the experience was deeply traumatic. “Sarah thought she was being kidnapped,” she said, The Guardian reported. “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.”
According to Besancon, ICE confiscated Shaw’s phone and transported the pair to the Dilley immigration processing centre in south Texas, thousands of kilometres from their home and support networks. Similar transfers have been reported under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, leaving detainees far from family and legal representation.
“It has been absolutely horrible,” Besancon said, The Guardian quoted her as saying. “Aside from the staff, Sarah and her son are the only English speakers, are locked in their shared bedroom from 8pm to 8am and are not allowed to wear their own clothes. It really is kind of like being in jail … it has been absolutely devastating and it’s kind of barbaric.”
Shaw holds a “combo card” — an employment visa linked to her work, and an I-360 visa for domestic violence survivors. She had recently received confirmation of her visa renewal but did not realise the I-360 portion 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,” Besancon explained.
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Besancon said border officials could have granted Shaw humanitarian parole instead of detaining her, and alleged that her youngest son — whose I-360 visa has been approved — is being held “illegally”.
“It’s so heartbreaking now to see people who, like Sarah, are not only legal, but who are contributing to American society,” Besancon said. “She gives therapy and counselling to some of our most at risk youth … and to be treated like a criminal herself has just been absolutely devastating.”
Shaw’s case adds to a growing list of foreigners, including visitors from the UK, Germany, Canada and Australia, who have been detained or deported despite holding valid visas.
As per the report by The Guardian, Washington Federation of State Employees, which represents Shaw, has demanded her release. “The trauma this has already caused for her and her son may never be healed,” said union president Mike Yestramski. “We vehemently oppose Ice practices and the broader immigration policies that enable them as they contradict American values and human rights.”
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New Zealand’s foreign affairs ministry confirmed it is in contact with Shaw but declined to comment further due to privacy concerns.
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