U.K. Family Claims They’re Detained in ‘Dirty’ Conditions With Their Baby After Accidentally Driving Across U.S. Border
A British family detained in federal immigration custody with their 3-month-old baby say they’ve endured “disgusting” and frigid conditions for two weeks after accidentally driving across the Canadian border into the United States. But U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials are refuting their story, accusing the family of “deliberately” attempting to enter the country illegally.
“We will never forget, we will be traumatized for the rest of our lives by what the United States government has done to us,” Eileen Connors wrote in an affidavit released by an immigrants’ rights group in Pennsylvania, where the family is currently being held, according to the Associated Press. Connors added that the family has been “treated like criminals” in cold and unsanitary U.S. immigration facilities.
Connors said she, her husband and their infant had been visiting Vancouver with extended family members and had not intended to visit the United States that evening. But while driving near the border, she says the family swerved to avoid an animal and drove onto an unmarked road without realizing they were crossing into the U.S.
However, CBP said in a statement that video surveillance captured a vehicle “slowly and deliberately driving through a ditch” and entering the United States illegally in Blaine, Washington on Oct. 2 around 9 p.m. A Border Patrol agent pulled the vehicle over shortly thereafter and arrested the seven occupants—four adults, the baby and 2-year-old twins, all United Kingdom citizens.
“During processing, record checks revealed two of the adults were previously denied travel authorization to come to the United States,” the CBP statement said. “Attempts were made to return the individuals to Canada, however, Canada refused to allow their return and two attempts to contact the United Kingdom consulate were unsuccessful.”
But the family’s attorney, Bridget Cambria, pushed back on the CBP statement. “They didn’t know it was the US and simply wanted to return,” Cambria tweeted on Tuesday. “Even the images of the roadways support their account. But again, simply, 3 month old babies should not be in hieleras, especially with the means (and desire) of return.” (Immigrant rights advocates often refer to short-term detention facilities as hieleras—Spanish for iceboxes—because of their cold temperatures.)
Cambria filed a formal complaint on behalf of the family with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general and civil rights office, per AP.
“Emotionally and psychologically, they’re destroyed,” Cambria told the Washington Post, saying the family was still awaiting deportation this week. “They’re very upset about what’s happened to them because it doesn’t make sense. Anyone that reads their statement or hears their story will not understand how this could’ve possibly happened.”
Cambria did not immediately respond to TIME’s request for comment Wednesday morning.
In her statement, Connors describes the ordeal as “the scariest experience of our lives,” according to AP. She said she had to sleep with her infant on the “disgusting floor” of a cold cell the first night of her detention. They were later taken to a Red Roof Inn in Seattle, and were eventually flown to a detention center in Pennsylvania.
A CBP spokesperson directed further questions about the family’s detention to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
ICE officials confirmed that Eileen and David Connors had been transferred to the Berks Family Residential Center in Leesport, Pa., describing the facility as “a safe and humane environment” with an “outstanding track record.” But the facility has faced allegations of health and human rights abuses in the past. In 2016, more than 20 mothers detained at the center went on a two-week hunger strike because of the way their children had been affected by more than a year in detention, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Protesters have since called for the center to be shut down.
In her complaint, Eileen Connors described the facility as frigid, and the bathrooms as “dirty and broken” in the statement obtained by AP. She also said her infant suffered a swollen eye and rough, patchy skin during detention.
“ICE has ensured the Connors have had access to United Kingdom (U.K.) consular officials while in ICE custody,” the agency said in a statement. “For operational security, ICE does not discuss specific removal arrangements prior to an individual’s successful repatriation.”