Embassy staff in contact with Kiwi woman detained in US immigration facility

• The New Zealand Embassy has been able to contact a New Zealander detained in the US.
• The woman and her son were returning to the US from Canada after dropping her other two children off for a direct flight to NZ.
• Sarah Shaw was not aware part of her visa had not been renewed, making her ineligible to re-enter the US.
• They were detained and taken many states away to Texas, where they remain.

New Zealand Embassy staff have made contact with Sarah Shaw, the New Zealand woman being detained with her son at a US immigration facility.

The pair were bundled into a van at the Canadian border three weeks ago.

The public servant was being held at a South Texas facility in what her union the Washington Federation of State Employees called "horrible conditions".

RNZ learned on Wednesday morning the New Zealand Embassy was now involved, and that it was only made aware of the case through media reports.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters' office said nobody made contact before then.

While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed it had been in contact with Shaw, it said it would not release further information for privacy reasons.

What happened?

Shaw's lawyer Minda Thorward on Wednesday told RNZ her detention was legal, but unreasonable and unnecessary, and her son Isaac's detention was not legal at all.

They had gone to Vancouver to drop two other children off for a flight back to New Zealand on 24 July.

Vancouver is about a 2.5-hour drive away from where they live in Everett, Washington State.

Thorward said Shaw used to have a spouse petition but her marriage ended amid allegations of domestic abuse.

Shaw filed an application for her status to be adjusted. Thorward said that application has been pending since 2022, but she was eligible to work in the US and travel during this time.

"She received what is called a combination card. It's one physical card that looks like a work permit but it also says it functions as a travel document," she said.

The card expired in May, but before then Shaw and her lawyer submitted a renewal application in March. A receipt of that was issued and Thorward said once that happened, the validity of the work permit was extended.

"Miss Shaw mistakenly believed that the entire card, both her travel document and her work permit, had been extended," Thorward said.

"She did not have a valid travel document, so she left the US to take her kids to the airport to fly direct to New Zealand to see their grandparents.

"And then realised once she was out of the country that she may not actually have a travel document that will allow her to re-enter."

Shaw alerted her lawyer to this, and Thorward told her to tell immigration officials at the border about it and that she had a pending application.

She told her to ask for "humanitarian parole" under the regulations.

"And that is something that is routinely used in situations like this, or at least prior to the Trump administration," Thorward told RNZ.

She said immigration officials refused and detained Shaw and her son, and transferred them to the family detention centre in Texas.

Thorward said the detention did not surprise her.

"Unfortunately, no, especially under this administration. I mean we see abuses by Border Patrol and ICE and just sort of a very draconian abusive enforcement of immigration law, especially now," she said.

"And so, I was disheartened and I was upset that she had been detained because it was completely unnecessary - but I was unfortunately not surprised."

What's the latest?

Thorward said she and Shaw were waiting to hear back about whether a petition to US Citizenship and Immigration Services was approved and if removal proceedings could be terminated.

"And if it is approved then she is immediately eligible to address her status and her kids who have separate applications, their applications should be approved simultaneously with her petition," she said.

"Then we'll just have to figure out whether or not she'll have to address her status in court or if we can terminate her removal proceedings affirmatively."

Thorward has also filed a motion to terminate Shaw's son's proceedings because he had a lawful travel document.

"He is admissible and he is unlawfully detained in a removal process. I am very hopeful that we will be able to resolve all of this."

Thorward hoped for adjudication "within the next couple of weeks" given what she said was pressure from the media coverage and elected officials.

Peters' office told RNZ embassy staff learned of the case through the media and nobody had made contact beforehand.

Kidnapping fears

Shaw's friend Victoria Besancon told RNZ the New Zealander was absolutely terrified when she and her son were bundled into a giant white van with no markings.

She said conditions at the detention facility were "very similar to a prison".

"She is in a locked room with five bunk beds, she is allowed to walk around the facility from 8am to 8pm, but outside of that she is locked in a cell with other families."

They were among the only English speakers at the facility.

"I remember her on the phone being absolutely panicked. She originally thought she was being kidnapped, she did not even realise she was being detained originally."

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