UK Family detained in USA after accidentally driving in from Canada

[PrincessRaven]

Two members of British family arrested after 'swerving to miss an animal and accidentally driving from Canada into America' had previously been denied entry to the US, border officials reveal.

The family said they blundered into Washington state while trying to avoid an animal in the road on the Canadian side and have since been 'treated like criminals' by their US jailers.

They say they have been subjected to filthy conditions in the Berks Detention Center in Leesport, Pennsylvania, since October 5.

The agency said that border agents tried returning the family to Canada, but Canada refused to have them back. After making two attempts to contact British consular officials, the border patrol said it turned the family over to U.S. immigration officials for removal proceedings.

It comes after footage emerged from Eileen's Instagram account appearing to show the couple travelling at speeds of up to 170kph (105mph) near the Canadian border.

Relatives back in Surrey say they are sick with worry and fear for Eileen in particular who is growing weak with hunger and stress.

Eileen is sharing a small room with her baby son, Grace and the twins and is too frightened to venture out other than to phone home and eat a meagre breakfast.

'At the moment Eileen is sleeping in a small room with Grace and the children.

'When I speak to her she sounds calm but I think that's an act to make sure the kids are ok.

'Inside she's absolutely terrified. She spends most of the time in the room with Tommy because she's scared to venture out.

They were staying in Vancouver and had gone into the surrounding countryside to go fishing.

'They were on their way back when Michael swerved to avoid a large animal, a moose I think, and ended up on a country road which led across the border.

'The first they actually knew they'd gone into the States was when they'd actually turned around and were heading back when they were surrounded by police vehicles.

David and Michael were taken to a detention centre in Washington while Eileen and Grace and the kids were put up in a budget hotel nearby.

'The immigration people stayed with them throughout, wouldn't let them make any calls and told them nothing about what was happening.

'They were there for two days before they were all reunited again at an airport near Seattle. For some reason they were flown to Chicago and then had a connecting flight to New York where they were driven to Pennsylvaniana.

It's all a bit odd, how do you accidentally drive over the border so far that the border force pick you up? (Never been to Vancouver)

Why wouldn't Canada let them back in?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/15/british-family-claim-us-officials-kidnapped-accidentally-straying

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/15/eileen-connors-british-family-ice-vacation-detention/

Well given that truth and this family don't appear to be best friends then I'm not entirely convinced by the baby having starved for 3 days.

My ds has pale skin and wavy longish dark hair and his face looks 'Irish' every body says that to us. It's not insulting or racist . He also speaks the language. He actually is Irish.
Just like his bf of Russian heritage looks Slavic. That's not racist/ insulting.

They may be exaggerating somewhat - but the conditions in these detention centres are well documented as being beyond awful. As a pp said, it's a deliberate ploy to deter illegal immigrants.

That’s not racist/ insulting

No. But the issue is what you said at 12.38, which is.

It’s very sad for the children that they’re being held in such conditions: they didn’t choose to enter another country illegally. Though at least the children have been allowed to stay with their mother, unlike many others.

Things must have changed in the US I was in Canada in 1995 and got on a bus to New York, at the border I showed my passport they asked what I was doing and that was it.

I haven’t rtwt, but there are no moose in the Vancouver-Fraser Valley area

Ah, but suppose the moose had been minding its own business in the Yukon and had suddenly had to swerve to avoid a grizzly bear?

Once I swerved to avoid hitting a badger on a road in Kent and I ended up by Swansea

That was Swanley, mate. Easy mistake to make.

UndomesticHousewife you crossed the border legally at a recognised point of entry with the correct documents nearly quarter of a century ago, not really similar. They had been refused an ESTA and had not got a visa instead so they were either going to be turned away at a proper crossing or enter illegally elsewhere. In the current anti-immigrant climate in the USA entering illegally was a very poor choice. They can hardly claim ignorance of the fact they were not welcome, having been refused the ESTA.

Also if there was a moose I'm a bit annoyed because we've spent hours in mosquito ridden swamps trying to see them, and driven down hundreds of miles of roads with beware the moose signs without seeing a single one.

I don't know if they are from the same Connors family who have been in the press a fair bit or not.

The name Connors is about as unusual as the name Smith or Jones.

Things must have changed in the US I was in Canada in 1995 and got on a bus to New York, at the border I showed my passport they asked what I was doing and that was it.

They haven't really changed, no.

There is a golf course in Fort Fairfield, Maine, where you cross the border fairly regularly going from one fairway to another. And there's a huge Border Patrol centre about 2 miles north. And you definitely get lots of moose up there. If they were going to claim they'd 'accidentally' crossed the border that would have been a much better location to try.

Would have looked a bit dodgy driving a big car round a golf course though.

From the look of those pictures they appear to celebrate Christmas and Halloween at the same time.

think it's appalling that they're keeping people in those awful conditions - I don't care what they've done. You don't treat families with babies like that.

Well, yeah, yeah they do, all day long and all the time. In fairness, they’re usually brown families from south of the southern border (and they’re more likely to fry than freeze in the local facilities given differences in climate) but the principle and the terrible conditions are pretty much ‘equal opportunities’ where ICE is concerned.

The point is deterrence. “If you don’t want your baby subjected to confinement in appalling accommodations then don’t cross US borders illegally” is the message the authorities here are sending.

And you know, as a legal immigrant to the USA, I have a lot of sympathy with people from Central and South America seeking refuge here from appalling conditions, poverty, dictatorships, drug cartels etc in their homelands. I don’t have a huge amount of sympathy for people from the UK who have no pressing need beyond they’re own entitlement to cross borders illegally.

*their not they’re ffs!

Poor unfortunate family, should be housed in a four star hotel at government expense while flights rebooked home via BA business class.
No...cheap cheap cheap and some underbooked red eye home, while hand cuffed to government employees.
These repatriations are expensive. Negotiations with the UK as to who pays needs discussing. Takes time.

It doesn't matter what their country of origin is, nor their ethnicity, skin colour, race or anything else. The fact is, they were trying to sneak over a border illegally and got caught.
Then came up with a load of wank about events that led them there. They might as well have said that they were so transfixed watching a flying pig that they didn't realise they had crossed the road, let alone the border.

I came on here thinking that my country had done something shitty again, but I guess this time at least there was some rationale for it.

Soup Yes I attributed those actions based on cultural and statistical likelihood and story and facts.

Had I said “all travellers would illegally cross borders and live off radar”

That would be negative and racist and untrue.

Adding facts of a story and making a reasonable assumption due to them is not.

Dress style + look + surname + group makeup + bullshit moose story + officials making the decisions they have (blocked ESTA refusal to Canada etc.) + large amount of cash + cultural background holding those elements for a statistical majority not all = reasonable statement of assumption.

So for example my kids dad if someone said “he’s Asian therefore he is Islamic and probably controls women in his life” they’d be a massive racist.

But If he was in a news story for example where he was Asian + wearing traditional garb + saying the reason for me and the kids being unable to go out of the house + domestic abuse + authorities being involved. I wouldn’t find it racist if there was an assumption that a cultural component of control over women and children was assumed by someone.

I mean he wouldn’t because he doesn’t actually fall within those cultural identities completely, but they exist and could easily be a factor. Not sure if that’s a good example of having to see the whole picture with cultural norms being a part of it but it’s the best way I can explain!

It’s denying statistically prevalent cultural norms because we are so afraid of the racism attack that led to things like the Rotherham grooming rings. It’s unhelpful.

These repatriations are expensive. Negotiations with the UK as to who pays needs discussing. Takes time.

Would 16,000 USD in cash cover it? if so then they themselves should pay the repatriation and whatever gets left over they get to keep. That might be the most effective deterrent.

A little more reading reveals it takes two weeks average to organize these repatriations.
They seem to be playing the traumatized for life...aka will need financial compensation monthly checks card.

Very good point Zoid. Though round Abbotsford it’s more likely the moose was swerving to avoid a cow or a Conservative Party voter.

And while I’m at it, there’s also no igloos in the lower mainland. Or snow.

Would 16,000 USD in cash cover it? if so then they themselves should pay the repatriation and whatever gets left over they get to keep. That might be the most effective deterrent.

Isn't that usually what happens? My little cousin was funding travelling around Central and South America by stints of seasonal work in Californian vineyards -- I think he originally had the correct US visas, but once he tried to get back in on a tourist visa and was clearly flagged up on the system on entry as a repeat arriver, and examination of his phone of course showed an intent to work. He had to pay for his own flight back to his home country (and is barred for either five or ten years from re-entering the US.)

I actually can see how they could have done this although I still doubt it was by accident. If you look up 28555 0 Ave, Abbotsford, British Columbia on Google maps, Boundary Road (US) runs alongside 0 Ave (Canada) and there is just a strip of grass and a ditch between.