
ICE has kept British family with their 3-month-old baby detained for days - primroot
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/15/eileen-connors-british-family-ice-vacation-detention/
======
cperciva
I don't know the full story here, but there's more going on than the family is
claiming. The first thing the American border guards tried to do when this
family "accidentally" entered the USA was to return them to Canada, but
Canadian border officials denied them re-entry:
[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-
columbia/arti...](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-
columbia/article-british-family-who-crossed-us-border-while-vacationing-in-bc-
to-be/)

~~~
jdsully
They were also denied entry to the US on a prior occasion. Very strange
indeed.

~~~
kube-system
and they were carrying $16,000 in cash?

~~~
cptaj
Didn't know we criminalized cash.

~~~
BlueGh0st
You have to declare more than $10,000 IIRC when traveling over the border.
When taken into account with all the other suspicious activity, it's worth a
mention.

~~~
vasco
If that's per adult they're below the limit.

~~~
pcdoyle
It's per family (residing in one household).

[http://customsandinternationaltradelaw.com/2013/12/13/intern...](http://customsandinternationaltradelaw.com/2013/12/13/international-
travelers-beware-u-s-customs-will-seize-your-money-if/#more-1578)

~~~
magic_beans
There were two families.

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kstenerud
"The Connors family says it didn’t plan to be on the unmarked road. The two
couples and their three young children were driving near the U.S.-Canada
border on Oct. 3 during a visit to Vancouver when an animal ventured into the
road, forcing them to make an unexpected detour."

"U.S. authorities disputed the family’s version of events, saying they were
spotted via video surveillance “slowly and deliberately driving through a
ditch onto Boundary Road in Lynden, Washington” between parallel roadways on
the U.S. and Canadian sides. The roads are not connected by cross streets, and
the only legal way to traverse between the countries is at staffed border
stations throughout the region."

I lived for many years in Vancouver, and there is no road connecting Canada
and the USA without a checkpoint until you hit the logging roads in the
Rockies (a 3 hour drive East). It's not possible to cross over to Boundary
road without driving off-road.

~~~
ndonnellan
Right about here it looks like you could drive across a ditch and into
America, no apparent fence.

245-255 E Boundary Rd

[https://goo.gl/maps/a3fvQ5Xd7J71mkx7A](https://goo.gl/maps/a3fvQ5Xd7J71mkx7A)

~~~
kstenerud
Yes, you can cross via a ditch.

~~~
aidenn0
I could totally see someone thinking this was a divided highway and saying "Oh
shit I'm on the wrong side of the road." Especially since in the UK a double-
yellow line marks a curb (specifically what in the US would be called a "no
standing zone") rather than dividing the centre of the road.

So there is a plausible (if stupid) reason why they might have crossed, but
things are still suspicious.

------
siffland
I am confused, they are angry what the American government has done to them.

What were they supposed to do. Canada will not let them reenter, they had been
denied entry to the US so it is not like they were going to just release them
to run around the US after illegally entering, and the UK is being slow about
the deportation. The family is still together and they didn't remove the
child. Were they supposed to be put in a 5 star hotel?

People complain about the condition when they illegally cross into the US (I
am from southern Texas and have a lot of exposure to this), but just image the
conditions if you got caught illegally crossing into say Russia, or China, or
Iran.

~~~
stickfigure
I think the point is that some of us don't like the US turning into Russia,
China, or Iran.

~~~
pnw_hazor
This type of stuff has been standard procedure for decades.

EU citizens discovered to be out of status are routinely sent to the nearest
detention center until they can get a flight home. There usually isn't any
'legal process' if the detainee voluntarily departs.

------
code4tee
It would appear there is a lot more to the story than the headlines imply.

For example evidence disputes their account of how they ended up in the US and
the fact that they previously tried to enter the US and were denied for
reasons not fully clear. I’m ignoring the sensationalist headlines for now
until the full story comes out.

ICE may have some challenges but they’re not just rounding up nice wholesome
British families and throwing them in the slammer for no reason.

~~~
_bxg1
Nope, just the nice wholesome Mexican families.

------
stanski
Not to say that it's okay to detain people with an infant in reportedly (and
believably) poor conditions this long but the whole story is very strange.

They took a different road to avoid an animal? Was there a grizzly attacking
their car or something? Then the Canadians refused to allow them back.
Suspicious to say the least.

~~~
rlpb
From [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-
canada-50067575](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50067575):

"David Connors, 30, and his wife Eileen, 24, said they were travelling with
their young baby and family members - two more adults and young twins - on 3
October when, to avoid an animal, they veered on to a small road.

But CBP said that remote video surveillance captured the vehicle crossing a
ditch before pulling back on to a road in Lynden, Washington state, and
continuing west. The group was pulled over by a border patrol agent shortly
after.

The occupants were arrested for illegally entering the US without inspection.
During processing, records revealed the two adults that had previously been
denied access to the US, CBP said on Tuesday."

------
jacknews
Did they have a return flight back to UK from Canada?

If true, why were they carrying $16k, and was it USD or CAD?

Obviously Canada's alleged refusal to re-admit them needs an official
statement (and explanation) too, why did WaPo not follow that up?

Are their identities real?

I guess only the courts will flush out anything even resembling the actual
course of events in this post-truth era.

------
fxleach
Stop pushing this story with this ridiculously click-baited title. More like
"ICE detains family crossing border illegally with $16k in cash, previously
denied entry".

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sct202
While it is very suspicious what's happened, I've ridden with people who have
inadvertently offloaded on to bike paths and continued to drive as if nothing
was wrong.

------
ycombonator
Canada would not accept them and their previous Visa waivers to the US got
denied. There is more to this than the clickbait title let’s on.

------
someonehere
From everything being described this looks like an entire waste of money
moving them around to different places and housing them. Have you ever seen
the government run something effectively ?

~~~
DrJokepu
How would you have done this more efficiently?

~~~
belltaco
Expedited court hearing before a magistrate?

~~~
DrJokepu
This is an administrative process, getting the courts involved would make it
less efficient, if anything.

------
RandomInteger4
How the frick do you accidentally drive into the US?

~~~
candiodari
This is the road in question:

[https://www.google.com/maps/place/245-255+E+Boundary+Rd,+Lyn...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/245-255+E+Boundary+Rd,+Lynden,+WA+98264,+USA/@48.9209199,-122.6485576,111370m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x5485c9e87c6d10fd:0xf8164860d3f96deb!8m2!3d49.0022112!4d-122.4770406)

Now imagine a discussion with your wife, "Am I driving on the right side of
the road", and ...

Given the consequences of crossing the border, and the expense they went
through to install border cameras you'd THINK they'd put up a small fence, or
at least SOME marker.

Nope.

~~~
pandaman
You can see a border marker (grey obelisk) if you switch to the street view on
your map.

~~~
candiodari
Where ? I can't seem to find such an obelisk even for more than a few hundred
meters forward.

~~~
pandaman
I am on mobile, if I open your URL and hit "street view" I am looking in the
opposite direction from the marker, I need to turn 180 to see it from that
point. If I scroll the street view next to the marker it shows the address
"256 E Boundary road".

~~~
candiodari
Ah. Wow. That looks like it belongs in a Marklin set. At the risk of agreeing
with Trump, I do think a small fence would have been better here.

------
Cenk
Non-paywalled reporting from The Guardian: [https://www.theguardian.com/uk-
news/2019/oct/15/uk-family-ar...](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-
news/2019/oct/15/uk-family-arrested-in-us-for-inadvertently-crossing-border)

~~~
wlkr
Unfortunately, the Guardian article is missing some information from the
Washington Post link. Chiefly, that Canada rejected their return and the
suspicious behaviour reported by US officers.

~~~
bruceb
Not missing, selectively withheld.

Including the full story reduces the clickbait. Many stories are presented in
a way to create outrage, not actually present the story accurately.

~~~
im3w1l
It's curious how some people are the target of more outrage bait than others.

------
algaeontoast
If I over stayed my visa in most of Europe, especially in Turkey or Russia why
would you expect a different outcome?

If you break the law there are consequences - welcome to the real world...

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avgeek23
Why is such treatment being dolled out to citizens on other countries,wasn't
this baby seperation thing only reserved for Mexicans and those who crossed
form the south.

~~~
KKPMW
Officers separate kids from adults committing a crime. i.e. if someone was
stealing a car and had a child beside them - the child would be separated
after the arrest. In the same way when someone comes to the country illegally
they are committing a crime and kids are separated to ensure their safety. It
has nothing to do with "being Mexican".

------
shekhardesigner
If only ICE/CBP could release the video where they caught them trespassing.

Feels like the family wants to gain emotional support through three months old
child saga.

I side solely with ICE in this particular case, that they didn't simply offer
a 'Return back' option. Common, if ICE starts to do that - there will be a
handful flux of people giving it a try hoping that if they were caught - they
can simply return back.

Expecting a catered service in the detention center is overboard. Government
run facilities, over-crowded all the time, they got a family detention center,
not an ordinary one itself should make them feel safer. I am assuming the
British family is trying to use the white privilege.

Whole 16K cash in hand story and two families blah blah - there is way more to
the story.

