ICE\CBP Misconduct & Abuse of Legal U.S. Residents

ICE denied a man bail to see his son before he died and later refused a request to attend the funeral. The father had legal authorization to live in the US for years which was revoked by Trump. He had no criminal record and checked in annually with immigration.

Father of four Makengo Nzeza left the hospital after his wife just gave birth to their newest baby and was arrested and detained by ICE agents despite being granted legal asylum to live in the US 8 years ago. The reverend of their church said on their behalf he was "heartbroken" and "furious."

Five-year-old US citizen Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellano was detained for a week with her mother at a hotel 80 miles away from their family instead of an ICE facility in an apparent ploy to deport them without being able to call their family for 3 days and without access to a lawyer or a hearing before a judge the entire time which would have likely prevented their deportation.

U.S. citizen Alex Jeffrey Pretti was shot ten times at point blank range by an ICE agent killing him despite posing no threat and exerting no resistance.

An 18-year-old US citizen has his vehicle clipped by recklessly driving ICE\CBP agents who then surrounded his car with guns drawn, broke his window and pulled him from the vehicle without little warning. They then used an extremely flimsy argument about a Reddit post in an attempt to detain him without bail which the judge summarily rejected.

US citizen and veteran Fernando had his Real ID questioned by ICE goons, and so he recited his name, rank, branch of service and SSN. That clapback must have struck a nerve as he was thrown to the ground and smothered by agents. They then threw his ID to the ground, flipped him off and drove away.

A gardener with dual citizenship with the U.S. and Mexico had his valid citizenship card questioned and when he also asserted the hospital he was born at in Long Beach, the officer snapped that they'd investigate it "downtown" instead of just releasing him on the spot.

A Twin Cities police officer was racially profiled and pulled over by ICE agents with guns drawn who demanded her paperwork. She responded by pulling out her phone to record their excessive use of force and had it knocked out of her hands. They eventually let her go when the found out she was an officer.

56-year-old U.S. citizen ChongLy Scott Thao had his front door broken down without a warrant by ICE agents with guns drawn merely because he resembled someone they were looking for.

Disabled U.S. Marine Corp veteran Skye and her friend Elizabeth were violently dragged from her car for merely observing ICE operations from her vehicle at a safe distance. Agents mocked her deep voice, repeatedly referred to her as "it" and laughed after an agent said, "Is it a guy or a girl?" They aggressively threatened to tase Elizabeth if she moved.

Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales was held at ICE facilities for 25 days away from her young son despite having extensive proof of her citizenship including a Maryland birth certificate and immunization records that were also vouched for by her lawyers. One of the facilities she was detained at, she was forced to sleep on the floor.

A family was trying to escape with their children to a safer location after ICE agents tear gassed their neighborhood, but then agents fired flash-bang grenades and tear gas at their vehicle with six children inside. Their 6-month-old baby had to be hospitalized with breathing problems.

U.S. citizen realtor Ryan Ecklund was put in a chokehold, forcibly removed from his car and thrown to the ground by ICE agents causing a black eye and scuffs on his face for merely following and recording them from a safe distance. He was unjustly detained for 9 hours before being released without charges.

A woman was accosted, assaulted, threatened and mocked by ICE agents for merely filming them from her car at a safe distance.

A U.S. citizen teenage girl was racially profiled, forcibly removed from a vehicle and handcuffed by agents without even asking for any documents and despite being a minor. When finally allowed to show proof of citizenship, agents cruelly "snatched the documents from her hand" as if angry they couldn't make an arrest.

Trained observers had their car vents pepper sprayed and windows smashed by an ICE agent for documenting their actions and said of recently murdered Renee Good, "that’s why that lesbian b—— is dead." One agent ripped the whistle off Brandon Sigüenza's neck taunting that he's "gonna be needing this later." Other agents taunted and mocked Patty O’Keefe including calling her ugly. They were detained for 8 hours and released without charges.

Special needs teacher Christina Rank was rammed by ICE agents who then smashed her windows, pulled her out and falsely accused her of ramming them which is disputed by multiple witnesses and the fact the damage was to the passenger side of her vehicle.

Two U.S. citizen Target employees were assaulted by immigration agents, detained for no reason and then released.

Minneapolis high school students were tear gassed by ICE\CBP agents who were "shouting at students, threatening students" and multiple witnesses reported people being shoved noting agents were "physical and aggressive." They detained a special ed teacher for dubious reasons and so he was later released.

U.S. citizen and Coast Guard veteran Jose Martinez had immigration agents aggressively bust into his cruise ship stateroom in an incident he described as "flashlights in our faces, screaming my name, barking commands, telling me to get out of bed, put me up against the wall and handcuffed me." He was needlessly detained for 1.5 hours after a weeklong cruise with without apology because he happened to have the same extremely common name of another man they were looking for.

Two men, U.S. citizens, were racially profiled, pulled over for no reason and then assaulted by an ICE officer described by one victim as "he started just grabbing us, shaking us, and they actually did punch us in our abdomens."

A 37-year-old woman U.S. citizen was shot by an ICE agent at point blank range as she drove passed him clearly trying to leave the scene after apparently instructed to do so by other agents. She then crashed into two vehicles. Witness and video accounts additionally show the agent leaving the scene and ICE preventing immediate medical attention to the woman who waited to receive CPR from local police.

Alma Bowman was arrested during a routine immigration appointment and needlessly detained for 8 months despite her father being a U.S. citizen at the time of her birth and having lived in Georgia for nearly 50 years since she was 10 years old. She had poor access to needed medical care while detained, and the ICE facility was overcrowded where some people had to sleep on the floor. She was finally released with an ankle monitor while she waits for certification of her U.S. citizenship by birthright.

Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry was unjustly detained for three months away from his U.S. citizen wife and two young children despite living in the U.S. legally for 25 years and serving in the U.S. Army. He also lost his vision due to a thyroid eye disease that wasn’t properly treated during detainment.

Mother of four Viviana Corral was threatened with guns by two immigration agents with one saying, "you better not do it" for merely walking up to film them detaining a neighbor.

20-year-old Minneapolis resident and U.S. citizen Mubashir was slammed against a wall, put in a chokehold and handcuffed by two masked men and in the process is heard screaming in pain, "My hand!".

55-year-old U.S. citizen Susan Tincher was detained for 5 hours for passively protesting and recording an ICE raid of 8 unmarked vehicles from a safe distance. She was thrown to the ground, needlessly cuffed, shackled, threatened with pepper spray and had her wedding ring cut off.

A Somali woman U.S. citizen was accosted by multiple ICE agents, zip-tied and detained 24 hours in Minneapolis for no reason. She was touched inappropriately and mocked with agents saying, "What could you be hiding under your hijab?" and "This would be the wrong attire to try and run away from us in."

A U.S. citizen construction worker had his phone taken and handcuffed by CBP agents of which they obstinately said, "you’re being detained for your own safety."

A Hispanic navy sailor in uniform drove off base and was immediately pulled over and detained by ICE for 90 minutes after they refused to accept his military ID as proof of citizenship and forced someone to bring his passport before releasing him.

Youth soccer coach Jair Celis was arrested at an immigration facility and detained for 2 weeks on a minor infraction rarely enforced and despite having a U.S. citizen wife, child and meeting for his last Green Card interview.

Indigenous actor Elaine Miles was randomly stopped and detained while walking to a bus stop by four masked ICE agents who questioned her valid tribal papers saying they "looked fake" and "anyone can make that." They refused to call the phone number on the ID to verify, and when she attempted to call herself they tried to take her phone. It took a fifth agent to eventually intervene before they let her go. In addition, her son and uncle were also previously detained and had their tribal IDs question before being let go.

Kimberlyn Aguilar was detained by ICE during an immigration appointment for a work permit despite having special juvenile status to stay in the U.S. and also needing asylum from gangs that were harassing her in Honduras. Courts gave her special juvenile status to stay in the U.S. in after a court ordered her deportation for mistakenly missing a court date that she was unaware of. They still deported her and without her baby of which they had also promised they would be able stay together.

A man had his vehicle window smashed and brother, who is reportedly a U.S. citizen, dragged out of the passenger seat by an ICE agent for not getting out fast enough to their liking and despite not having a warrant and the agent falsely claiming, "I don’t need a warrant" with his handgun held drawn.

17-year-old high school student Christian Jimenez had his car window smashed and was detained for 5 hours at an ICE facility despite being a U.S. citizen of which officers responded to his assertation of such with "I don’t care." It appears they targeted him for simply filming or following them which he had done in the past.

Marimar Martinez & Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz were targeted by CBP agents who instigated an accident.

Two women U.S. citizens had their car windows dangerously smashed in by an AR-15 muzzle after which they were zip-tied, arrested and held in federal custody for hours before being released with just minor citations. Agents were unhappy with the women for merely honking their horns alerting people to ICE.

18-year-old U.S. citizen Fernando Vazquez was racially profiled by CBJ agents who drove up to a job site in unmarked SUVs and approached him wearing masks and dark sunglasses and asked him "where are you from?" and further questioned him in Spanish. One agent ripped his AirPod out of his ear and when he tried to put it safely back in its case, the agent yelled "don't touch me" despite him not making any moves towards him. He had his North Carolina Real ID proving his citizenship, yet they handcuffed and drove him away with an agent getting angry to him further asserting details of being a citizen. Finally, they pulled into a parking lot, uncuffed him and threw his wallet and cards out the window which scattered to the ground. They did this instead of admitting their mistake, driving him back to where they took him from, personally handing him his wallet and apologizing for the inconvenience from their mistake which any respectful and decent law enforcement officer would do.

Two women had their car window smashed, an assault rifle pointed directly at them and were detained for hours before being released with minor citations for merely exercising their 1st amendment rights and following ICE vehicles from a safe distance.

U.S. citizen activist journalist Miguel Angel Garcia Martinez passively followed and filmed CBP agents from his van during which they targeted him in an unwarranted, unjustified and egregious escalation and excessive use of force after he did not agree to a "voluntary stop" by an agent and another agent made a gesture for him to leave after which he left. Despite leaving to deescalate the situation as instructed, CBP agents followed him driving recklessly including briefly into oncoming traffic and the CBP agent driving tried repeatedly to ram his van egged on by his fellow agents who described the pursuit as "fun" and "great." And in further disregard to public safety one exclaimed, "he’s gonna get shot is what’s gonna happen." When finally stopped, they smashed his window, arrested him and -- as was probably the plan all along to intimate people holding them accountable -- falsely charged him with assault. A judge summarily dropped the assault charges noting it was CBP agents who expressed an intent to hit the van.

4'9" tall legal U.S. resident Juanita Avila was violently yanked from her minivan, thrown to the ground and had multiple agents knee her in the back while they pulled hard on her arms and handcuffed her. She had simply asked, "Why was I pulled over?" which instead of answering, the angrily escalated to violence as they knew the answer was racial profiling. She was detained for 30 minutes until let go despite having her U.S. Permanent Resident ID in her pocket. Afterwards she described feeling emotional trauma and pain "everywhere, like where they put their knees."

A 32-year-old father and U.S. citizen was removed from his vehicle by masked immigration agents who then drove off in his car with his one-year-old daughter strapped in the back seat ignoring yelled warnings by a witness that "there's a baby in the back" (presumably on purpose). The family did not know where she was for a while and the baby's grandmother was made to wait for hours at an immigration center and provide proof of citizenship before they returned the baby.

A 23-year-old woman U.S. citizen taking photos of unmarked federal immigration vehicles had her car window broken, handcuffed and detained in a cell for 7 hours with chains around her legs She was denied a phone call to a lawyer with an obvious lie that the landlines were down and during her detention agents were "laughing like it was a joke."

18-year-old legal U.S. resident Carlos Guerra Leon was detained by ICE for nearly 3 months at a facility in Louisiana 1400 miles away from his family in Spring Valley, New York.

Schizophrenic 54-year-old Omar Huerta Cisneros, a Green Card holder since 1988, was detained by ICE and then dropped off somewhere else at random despite him obviously needing help upon which it took his family two weeks to find him because of his condition

57-year-old peaceful protestor Franci Stagi had her phone grabbed or knocked out of her hand by an ICE agent she was filming. When she approached him to ask for her phone he snapped and grabbed her by the hair, lifted her off the ground in a chokehold and pushed her to the ground with two other agents despite being a petite 5-foot-2. The actions were egregious enough for the local police chief to open an investigation into the agent's actions.

A 67-year-old runner and U.S. Citizen was dragged from his car, tackled, pinned down and knelt on by immigration agents in front of children attending a Halloween parade in such an excessive use of force that he suffered six broken ribs and internal bleeding of which many bystanders described as aggressive and unjustified.

Sixteen-year-old U.S. citizen Arnoldo Bazan was beaten, choked and verbally attacked with racial slurs by plain clothed and masked ICE officers with such force he had to go to a children's trauma unit of a hospital suffering from "damage to his neck and spine that lasted for weeks"

U.S. Citizen activist protestors Ruben Morales and Jessi Olazaba were attacked by ICE agents despite turning around and backing up when told. They pepper sprayed Ruben Morales in the back and tackled him to the ground with such force it ripped his pants, bloodied his knees and scratched his throat and arm. Jessi Olazaba filmed the arrest and an agent knocked off her glasses, pepper sprayed her and shoved her to the ground where she hit the back of her head. Ruben Morales was released without charges and Jessi Olazaba was cited for impeding an arrest despite merely filming their actions from an appropriate distance.

Gustavo Garcia Aguilar, who has been a permanent legal U.S. resident since 1997 and traveled internationally for years without any problems, was detained for an entire six months waiting for paperwork to go through for something from his past record to be vacated.

Ashley Palomares was taken to do the ground and cuffed in an excessive use of force by agents and detained for 2 1/2 hours despite having her ID and being born in the USA. An older woman detained with her said she needed to use the bathroom and instead of helping the officer laughed. She also observed a boy around 14 grabbed by the neck and zip-tied.

State Rep. Hoan Huynh's vehicle was surrounded by six federal immigration agents with one officer having their gun drawn who prevented him from following an unmarked vehicle which he had the legal right to do.

Leonardo Espartaco Martinez, a U.S. citizen and immigration rights activist legally monitoring federal immigration agents on behalf of watchdog group VC Defensa, was rammed by an SUV driven by them and suffered injuries serious enough to require hospitalization after which he was detained and released without any charges filed.

U.S. citizen and Chicago resident Warren King was tackled at a neighborhood Walgreens for merely trying to run from the chaotic scene unfolding due to an overwhelming and excessive use of force by ICE agents. A woman from a safe, non-threatening distance tells the officer he is her brother-in-law and a U.S. citizen but the officer yells at her to "get the f#$k back". ICE also ignored claims of citizenship from the young man and detained him in their vehicle for hours before releasing him without charges.

A 15-year-old American citizen peacefully protesting excessive use of force by CBP agents was slammed to the ground, cuffed and held down so hard he cried out "my neck, my neck" after which they pushed him down even harder. Then he was detained by agents in a federal building garage for five hours without informing his family, stating any charges, or allowing him to call an attorney or his family.

Four U.S. citizens were wrongfully detained for hours until released without charges by ICE officers who broke down a cemetery gate and entered private property without a warrant and unnecessarily deployed pepper balls against them.

Bar worker Maria Greeley was zip-tied and questioned for an hour by federal immigration agents after finishing a double shift and despite having her passport and other forms of identification on hand of which the agents repeatedly questioned her valid identification documents as fake and said she "doesn’t look like" a Greeley (she was adopted).

Lawful U.S. resident and Chicagoan Rueben Antonio Cruz was fined $130 for not having his papers on him using a law that up until then had rarely been enforced. This was after agents detained him by driving in circles harassing him with interrogation like questions.

US Marine veteran John Cerrone was violently tackled to the ground despite trying to deescalate by slowly pulling a protestor and also despite being on property adjacent to but not owned by ICE. He was detained for nine hours in a cell covered with blood, hair and mucus during which an agent boasted about shooting him in the head with rubber bullets yelling, "Where is that pussy!"

A petite 18-year-old Chicagoan woman and legal U.S. resident was violently thrown to the ground and kneed in the neck by a masked ICE agent more than twice her size. He did this despite her yelling out "I'm not resisting" and having three vehicles of agents as backup. She and her two friends were subsequently detained for hours without being able to call their parents knowing where they were until they were released without charges. The ICE agents apparently were unhappy the group was filming them earlier to hold them accountable-- obstinately for completely and utterly egregious acts exactly like this. After the incident became public, DHS propagandist Tricia McLaughlin smeared the 18-year-old woman as a criminal and laughably claimed the quite obviously federal immigration officers were Chicago PD instead.

U.S. citizen and Portlander Frank Miranda was threatened by masked ICE agents that "we're gonna put you in cuffs or you're gonna get the dog" after which he was struck from behind, handcuffed and put in a van in which his legs were kicked out from under him and was told he would be sitting on the floor. He was driven to an ICE facility where he was held for several hours without access to a lawyer before being released without charges or any explanation of his detainment.

U.S. Citizen and WGN Chicago employee Debbie Brockman was forced to the ground, handcuffed and battered in a way that exposed her buttocks while walking to a bus top in a northside neighborhood and was detained for seven hours despite no evidence of any wrongdoing and finally was released without charges.

Reverend David Black, dressed in all black and peacefully protesting with his hands open in a non-threatening, way was shot in the head and body multiple times with pepper balls without any warning.

U.S. citizen Garcia Venegas was racially profiled and detained on two separate occasions by ICE officers despite producing his REAL ID which they smeared as fake. On one occasion they screamed for him to "get on the fucking ground" and kept him in handcuffs for more than an hour and another incident they detained him and two other lawful U.S. citizens for 20-30 minutes.

U.S. citizen Pertissue Fisher was handcuffed and detained for hours during an ICE raid on a South Shore apartment building in Chicago of which she noted it was the first time a gun was ever put in her face and said that "they just treated us like we were nothing."

Rodrick Johnson, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran retiree who recently went blind and completely innocent of any wrongdoings, had his door kicked in by federal in the middle of the night during an ICE raid on an apartment building in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago and was detained in a van for hours without a warrant or access to a lawyer.

Turkish journalist L. Vural Elibol was thrown to the ground by ICE thugs outside an elevator in the Federal Plaza in NYC which was serious enough for him to be taken to the hospital with back and head injuries.

Legal Green Card holder Juan Rivas had his immigration papers in his pockets ready to show immigration agents of which he said, "I was ready to show them when they started hitting me and threw me on the floor," in an egregious case of racial profiling at a Home Depot parking lot.

9-month-pregnant U.S. born citizen Cary Lopez Alvarado was racially profiled by ICE\CBP agents who said, "you're from Mexico, right?" while she was filming them arrested her boyfriend at a safe distance. Despite this, they handcuffed and detained her for over 8 hours with a chain around her belly and released her with cuts and bruises as she went into labor.

U.S. citizen Rafie Shouhed was shoved to the ground in an excessive use of force by a masked ICE thug while trying to engage with them on their fascist raid on his car wash. He was further roughed up outside where agents were quick to throw him on the ground and during the process he describes three agents sitting on his back in a very painful way. And the abjectly evil fascists they are, his pleas about them hurting him were met with "You don't F with ICE." He suffered multiple broken ribs, deep bruising, a gruesome injury to his arm and damage to his brain from being slammed headfirst into the ground. He was detained for hours without his wife knowing where he was despite him yelling that he had proof he was a U.S. citizen in his wallet and five of his employees were also detained without looking at his claims of proof he had that his employees were authorized to be on the job. Mr. Shouhed filed a $50M lawsuit over the excessive use of force by the fascist ICE thugs.

U.S. citizen Javier Ramirez was detained in a Montebello ICE raid and jailed for four days before finally seeing a judge despite repeatedly telling agents he was a citizen.

U.S. citizen and Iraq War veteran George Retes was driving to his job as a security guard where he was stopped at an ICE roadblock -- and despite not resisting or posing a threat, even backing up when told to -- ICE thugs broke his window, teargassed and pepper sprayed him and forced him to the ground where two of their degenerates put knees to his neck and back. Despite him having a valid ID, he was detained by ICE fascists for three days in an isolation cell and not allowed to shower despite the exposure to toxic chemicals. Additionally, he was denied access to a lawyer or a hearing with a judge and prevented from making phone calls. His family had no contact with him and no idea where he was and he missed his daughter's third birthday.

Afghanistan War Veteran Daryn Herzberg was violently tackled to the ground from behind by an agent while peacefully protesting outside an ICE facility to the side of their driveway. The incident resulted in "sharp pains when I lay on my left or right side" of which he "can’t get sleep very well." Three days later he was accosted again by four agents suffering a concussion, cuts, scrapes and bruises during which one agent said, "you’re not talking s#$t anymore, are you?" The excessive use of force was egregious enough to warrant a $150k lawsuit against DHS.

U.S. citizens George and Esmeralda Doilez regret voting for Donald Trump after they were racially profiled, detained and searched for 30 minutes by "goons in masks in unmarked vehicles chasing down American citizens just because of the color of their skin." They further ranted on the agents' wearing masks saying, "Who does that? Criminals do that. Robbers and thieves do that. Kidnappers do that."

20-year-old legal U.S. resident and Purdue University student Yeonsoo Go was handcuffed and then detained for several days in a Louisiana facility 1400 miles from New York City where she lived with her parents after a routine hearing to extend her legal Visa.

Irish grandmother Donna Hughes-Brown, married to a U.S. citizen and Green Card Holder living in the U.S. for 37 years with 4 children and 5 grandchildren, was detained at O'Hare International Airport by immigration agents for a misdemeanor from more than a decade ago on the guise of writing bad checks only totaling around a mere $60. She was transferred to a facility in Kentucky away from her home in Missouri. A judge refused her bond hearing, and she remained in custody in legal limbo for more than four months facing possible deportation.

U.S. citizen and high school senior Kenny Laynez was told by Border Patrol agents that "You got no rights here. You're an amigo, brother" during a traffic stop in which he said the occupants were not resisting. However, the agents escalated things tasing one passenger in the stomach causing him to fall and spasm and grabbing another by the hair & neck. A hidden smartphone also recorded one agent saying "They're starting to resist more. We're gonna end up shooting some of them." Which was followed with a reply from another who said, "Just remember, you can smell that too with a $30,000 bonus."

30-year-old Green Card holder Mahmoud Khalil was detained by ICE for 100 days at a facility 1000 miles away from his family in New York City without charges for online posts critical of Republican policies during which he also missed the birth of his son.

Two US citizens were racially profiled and assaulted by ICE agents at a tow yard they worked at despite not resisting, professing that they were US citizens.

U.S. citizen Brayan Ramos-Brito was forcefully shoved by a federal immigration agent without provocation during a legal protest outside a government building. He was charged with assaulting government officials, but a jury took just one hour to find him not guilty after video proved the agent was the aggressor.

U.S. citizen Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez was racially profiled and detained twice on holds by ICE once for 48 hours and another for 24 hours of which he was still detained despite a judge confirming he had a valid official birth certificate

23-year-old Somali U.S. citizen Nasra Ahmed was shoved to the ground so hard she got a concussion and needed a large band-aid on her forehead. She was called a racial slur by an ICE agent as he put her in a car, and she was unjustly held for 2 days before being released without any charges.

Navajo man Peter Yazzie was zip-tied and detained for four hours while trying to start his workday after his valid papers were questioned including a Certificate of Indian Blood and birth certificate.

U.S. citizen Jose Roberto “Beto” Ramirez was punched in the face while complying with immigration agents' racist request for facial recognition after which other agents joined in roughing him up further. His sweater was torn, and he suffered bruises on the back of his neck and also wrists from handcuffs being overly tight. He was held outside in the cold for 3 hours with no access to food, water or a toilet.

A Somali Uber driver films video as he is racially profiled and harassed by CBP agents during which an immigration agent makes light of the unlawful killing of a 37-year-old mother of three earlier that day as "I don’t know why they do the head, man" after which CBJ Commander Greg Bovino and other agents laugh and smile.

A 17-year-old US citizen teen was racially profiled, pulled over and held at gunpoint by a man outed as an off-duty ICE agent by the family's lawyer. He yelled "Freeze, police! Put the car in park right now!" and intimidated and threatened the boy for 10 minutes only letting him go when neighbors intervened.

US citizen Willy Aceituno was racially profiled and stopped twice by Border Patrol goons with the second time having his car window needlessly smashed and thrown to the ground despite yelling "I'm an American citizen!" He was taken in a CBP vehicle, only allowed to leave because he had documents on him proving his citizenship and had a long walk back to his vehicle.

Rafael Veraza was pepper sprayed directly in the face by an immigration agent while trying to drive safely away federal agents which also affected his 1-year-old daughter of which he described that she "was trying to open her eyes" and "struggling to breathe."

Legal U.S. Washington resident Sarah Shaw and her six-year-old son were detained for three weeks in a cramped facility despite having a valid work permit. She drove her eldest children to the international airport in Vancouver, Canada, on a trip to visit their grandparents and immediately came back to the U.S. But she was then detained on a minor technicality of which she mistakenly thought she was allowed to leave the U.S. and it was just a quick stop to accompany her children before returning.