WA state employee, her son released by ICE after three-week detention
A Washington state employee and her young son have been released after three weeks in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, according to her lawyer, Minda Thorward.
New Zealander Sarah Shaw and her son were detained by ICE at the Canadian border last month after she dropped off her two eldest children at Vancouver International Airport.
Shaw, an employee at the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families, works at Echo Glen Children’s Center, a medium/maximum security juvenile rehabilitation facility in Snoqualmie, Washington.
Thorward said Shaw holds a combo card,” a temporary immigration document that authorized her to work in the U.S. The combo card can also function as a travel document, but Shaw didn’t realize that part of the card was no longer valid, Thorward said. Only the work authorization part had been recently renewed.
It should have been a simple issue to fix, but instead it led to Shaw’s detainment at the border, Thorward said.
“It was completely unnecessary for that to happen,” she said. “There was no reason for it.”
A DCYF spokesperson confirmed earlier this month that Shaw’s employment eligibility was verified when she was hired. Her son had valid travel authorization, their attorney said.
Following their detainment, the mother and son were held at South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, Thorward said.
Shaw’s two older children are in New Zealand visiting their grandparents, Thorward said.
Victoria Besancon, Shaw’s close friend, said “being detained in the facility was very difficult for both her and her son.”
Shaw is her kids’ only financial support, and she’s worried about her bills and providing for the family, Besancon said. Besancon, who said she met Shaw almost four years ago when she came to the U.S., organized a GoFundMe fundraiser for her friend.
In the past year, there have been multiple cases of families with children – some U.S. citizens – being detained by immigration officers. Four American children were released last month after being detained with their mother for two weeks by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. In May, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported a pregnant mother of four spent three weeks in custody at Blaine Border Patrol Station.
Besancon noted Shaw’s son moved to the U.S. when he was around 2.
“All he’s ever known is America as his home,” she said. “So he didn’t understand why they were being treated like criminals.
Seattle Times staff reporter Mara Mellits contributed to this story.