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A Canadian mother and daughter who spent more than two weeks detained at an immigration facility in Texas were released from custody Thursday after posting bond.
“It will not feel real until I see this place in the rearview mirror,” Tania Warner said in a video she sent to CBC News, still wearing the tracksuit from the Dilley Immigration Processing Center.
She spoke to the camera, as her seven-year-old daughter smiled from the backseat of their vehicle, with her husband driving them home.
Tania maintains she and Ayla have been living in the United States legally for the last five years, after moving to Texas to be with her husband, Edward Warner, a U.S. citizen.
At their bond hearing on Tuesday, Warner said her immigration lawyer argued that she had filed all the necessary documents and had been given approval by the federal government to legally extend her stay in the United States.
The judge set bond, which is a payment to ensure a person attends their court dates, at $9,500 US. Bonds are typically repaid upon the completion of court proceedings.
Warner said the judge ruled she and Ayla are not a flight risk, but she was fitted with an ankle monitor before being released.
Stopped at mandatory checkpoint
Warner and Ayla were taken into custody on March 14 at a state border patrol checkpoint in Sarita, Texas, while on their way home from a baby shower.
She said they have been through similar checkpoints many times before without issue, and did not expect to be detained.
Tania Warner and her seven-year-old daughter, Ayla, seen here in an undated photo, were held in ICE custody for more than two weeks after being stopped at a mandatory checkpoint in Texas on March 14. (Submitted by Edward Warner)Ayla Lucas, right, was at a baby shower with her mother just hours before being detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on March 14. (Submitted by Mario Muñoz)
Tania, who is originally from Penticton, B.C., says she was in the midst of the process to get a green card, which required her to spend thousands of dollars and undergo a criminal record check.
Her husband says Tania kept her immigration paperwork up to date, and sent copies of her work visa documents to CBC News.
After being detained, Tania and Ayla were initially held in a processing centre in McAllen, Texas. Five days later they were transferred to a detention centre for families in Dilley, Texas.
Warner said she has been appalled by the conditions in the facilities, and is upset that families she has spoken at the detention centre – some of who have been there nearly a year – had also attempted to follow proper channels in their efforts to live in the United States.
LISTEN | CBC’s Jacqueline Gelineau speaks to Warner from inside detention:
The Early Edition11:17Detained B.C. mother describes ‘terrifying’ conditions in Texas immigration facility
A mother and daughter from Penticton find out today if they will be released from an ICE facility in the United States after being taken into custody more than two weeks ago.
The pair have been living in Texas for the last 5 years and were on their way home from a baby shower when they were detained.
The CBC’s Jacqueline Gelineau has been following this story for us and joins us now.
They now have several hearings to determine if they can stay in the U.S. or if they will be deported.
