A New Zealand woman and her young son thought they were being kidnapped when ICE officers detained them as they returned to the US following a trip to Canada. Sarah Shaw and Isaac, six, have been held in United States immigration detention in South Texas for three weeks, despite them living in Washington state on valid visas for more than three years. Ms Shaw and her three children – Grace, 11, Seth, nine, and Isaac – briefly crossed the US border on July 24 to drive to Vancouver Airport in Canada – less than three hours away.

The young mum dropped off her two eldest children for a flight back to NZ to see their grandparents – Vancouver was the closest airport with direct flights – before she turned around and headed back to America with Isaac. However, what should have been a standard crossing back home – where she had been living since 2021 after she moved to the US to marry her then-husband – turned to disaster. A close friend of Ms Shaw, navy veteran Victoria Besancon, said the pair were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and ‘whisked away in an unmarked white van’.

Ms Shaw’s phone was confiscated and they were transported to Dilley Immigration Processing Centre – a 35-hour drive from their home in Everett. Ms Besancon is one of two people the mother has been permitted to speak to since her arrest. Dilley is considered the largest immigration detention centre in the US with Ms Besancon claiming its conditions are ‘comparable to prison’.

‘She is not allowed to have her own clothes or her own underwear. There are five bunk beds in a room with multiple families in those rooms and they are locked inside from 8pm to 8am,’ she said of Ms Shaw’s detainment. The pair are some of the only English speakers in the facility, aside from staff, making them feel even more isolated. Ms Besancon said her friend described the ordeal as ‘terrifying’ and she ‘thought she was being kidnapped’ because ‘they didn’t really explain anything to her at first.’

The Kiwi mum was living in the US on a ‘combo card’ visa 0 including a work permit granted through her employer and an I-360 visa, available to survivors of domestic violence committed by a citizen. She has spent the more than three years working as a youth counsellor in a juvenile detention facility in the state of Washington and was recently advised her work visa had been renewed but the approval for her I-360 was still pending. I-360 visas have been approved for all three of Ms Shaw’s children, including Isaac.

Ms Shaw requested humanitarian parole, an emergency pass into the US, but was told she wasn’t eligible. ‘Not only was she denied that right, but agents lied to her, stating they had already requested it and she was denied. It was later confirmed that was a lie and no parole was filed or requested on her behalf,’ Ms Besancon said. US Customs and Border Protection advises without both elements of Ms Shaw’s ‘combo card’, she could face deportation as reentry is not guaranteed.

Her detainment could also see her pending I-360 application be denied. Ms Shaw had an interview with US Citizen and Immigration services (USCIS) and hopes her I-360 form will be approved and expedited. ‘She still has a valid and current work visa. She was never inadmissible to the United States and the Department of Homeland Security made the independent decision to detain her,’ Ms Besancon said. The veteran warned tourists against visiting the US due to the current political climate.

She claimed there’s been an ‘increasingly aggressive’ attitude toward immigration since Donald Trump was inaugurated as President in January. Travel to the US dropped 3.1 per cent in July alone – the latest in a string of declines since the administration focused its attention on stricter travel and trade controls. Ms Shaw’s father, Rod Price, told Radio New Zealand her eldest children are enjoying their time in Whangaparāoa, 42km north of Auckland.

‘Ah, the young fella, it’s just water off a duck’s back, but my granddaughter is – she won’t outright say it – but you know, you can tell by their actions and their concern and questions,’ Mr Price said. Fortunately, the family’s plight should be over in the coming days. ‘There’s a 90 per cent chance that she’s going to be out Thursday, which is our Friday, 3pm. She’s so confident that she’s already booked a flight back to Seattle,’ Mr Price said. If Ms Shaw and Isaac are not released on Thursday, they will be permitted to argue for their release in court on August 29.

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed it has been in contact with a New Zealander in US detention. Daily Mail has contacted ICE for further comment. Ms Besancon has created a GoFundMe to help cover Ms Shaw’s legal fees and travel costs. The fundraiser received more than $53,000 USD ($81,000 AUD) in just seven days.