A Washington state employee and her 6-year-old son are being held in a Texas detention facility after a brief trip to Canada turned into an unexpected immigration ordeal.
Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand citizen and mother of three who lives in Everett, believed she had all her travel documents in order when she drove her two older children to Vancouver International Airport for a flight to New Zealand to see their grandparents. She brought along her youngest son, Isaac, for the ride, expecting to return home the same day.
Her close friend, Victoria Besancon, said Shaw had checked her visa status before the trip and was waiting for some travel paperwork to be finalized. “Once her visa and her children’s visas were cleared, she felt comfortable taking them to Canada, we assumed everything was fine,” Besancon explained.
But when Shaw and Isaac tried to cross back into the United States, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained them at the border. Shaw’s attorney, Minda Thorward, described it as “a simple administrative error that anyone could have made.”
Shaw is applying for permanent residency and holds a temporary “combo card” granting her work authorization and permission to travel internationally. While her work permit had been approved, her advance parole, the travel authorization, had not. Thorward said Border Patrol officers could have used their discretion to let her back into the country, noting that she had only been gone for about a day.
Shaw moved to the U.S. three and a half years ago through sponsorship from her former husband. Following a divorce, she reapplied for a green card under provisions for survivors of domestic abuse. She now works for the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families at Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie, handling some of the most difficult juvenile rehabilitation cases.
Besancon said Shaw has found the experience humiliating, particularly because her employer has learned about her detention. “She’s a civil servant who works with some of the most at-risk youth in our community,” Besancon said. “Being treated like a criminal has been incredibly hard on her.”
Shaw and Isaac are currently being held at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, one of only two facilities in the nation where ICE detains families. Thorward said Isaac had valid travel documents and believes there was no reason to hold him. Shaw asked that her friend be allowed to pick him up, but officials refused.
Besancon said Shaw has been left “in shock and devastation,” feeling she had done everything required. A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help cover her rent and legal fees in both Washington and Texas, as her savings have been depleted during her detention.
