The father of a New Zealand woman held in a US immigration detention centre for three weeks with her six-year-old son has expressed hope that the pair will be released by the end of the week. Rod Price recounted receiving a 'frantic' call from his daughter, Sarah Shaw, after she was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) while attempting to re-enter the US from Canada on 24 July.
Shaw had just dropped her two eldest children at Vancouver airport for a flight to New Zealand when she was stopped. Her friend Victoria Besancon told the Guardian that Shaw had received documents indicating her release, but the immigration centre had yet to verify the details to her lawyer. Price 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, far from her home in Washington state. Besancon described the ordeal as 'horrible' and 'barbaric'. Shaw holds a 'combo card'—a temporary immigration document including employment authorisation and an I-360 approval for domestic violence survivors—but her renewal was pending approval on the I-360 element.
Shaw's lawyer, Minda Thorward, stated it was a simple administrative error and that border patrol had discretion to parole her into the US. She called the detention of the six-year-old 'unconscionable'. New Zealand's foreign affairs ministry confirmed it was in contact with Shaw but declined further comment due to privacy issues.
A US Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said that individuals with expired parole attempting to re-enter the US would be stopped in compliance with laws, and protocols would be followed to keep families together. An Ice spokesperson emphasised the agency's commitment to safe and humane environments for those in custody.
