Canadian man in ICE custody sick from contaminated water, poor food in Texas facility
· Toronto Sun
A Canadian man has been stuck in a detention facility in Texas for months after his arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in November.
Kayla Thomsen says her fiancé, Curtis Wright, who was born in Edmonton, Alta., has lived in the United States for nearly 30 years.
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But it will be four months next week that he has been detained at ICE’s South Texas Detention Facility in Pearsall, about 90 kilometres southwest of San Antonio, where he has been forced to endure cold, crowded conditions, poor food and water, and long delays to plead his case to a judge, Thomsen claimed.
Why was he detained?
On Nov. 6, Wright, 39, was returning home from a business trip in Mexico when Thomsen received a text from him that he had been taken aside for secondary screening at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport.
“I had all the kids home, and they were so excited to see their dad. We had made dinner. We were all waiting for him,” the woman said.
After radio silence for a couple hours, Wright texted that he was being detained and sent to an ICE facility.
“The water is contaminated at the facility he’s at. He got extremely sick,” she told the Canadian Press .
“I didn’t know what was happening,” she continued. “In my head, I’m thinking he’s been locked up with rapists and murderers. So I was beside myself.”
Thomsen said her fiancé was detained for a drug possession conviction from when he was in high school. He had been in a car with friends and Xanax tablets were found in the back seat, she explained, but added that Wright did community service for his sentence.
Detainees like Wright can self-deport to their home country, Thomsen explained, but moving to Canada would jeopardize the custody he shares of his two sons from a previous marriage.
Wright works in the oil and gas sector and is a permanent resident of the U.S., Thomsen said.
They live in Houston with their 18-month-old daughter and Wright’s two boys.
Why the delay?
He was supposed to have a virtual court date last month, Thomsen said, but the judge didn’t show up and another date was set — and another trial has yet to be scheduled and no one has answers on how long it will take.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to CP when asked about Wright’s case.
Wright has been moved to different facilities four times, according to Thomsen.
She said Wright has told her it’s cold, detainees have no blankets or jackets, and one of his so-called meals was one frozen waffle in a 24-hour period.
Thomsen is allowed to visit him, and she made the 400-kilometre trek once with their daughter, but won’t again.
“It’s hard to watch her try to grab at him through the glass, and she doesn’t know why she can’t get her dad, you know? And he’s visibly upset and crying because he’s missing his child,” Thomsen said.
“It’s hard on her. It’s hard on me. It’s heartbreaking to see.”
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Past arrests
Thomsen revealed that Wright had previous run-ins with the law, including an arrest for impaired driving about eight years ago, and another when police found his ex-wife’s gun in a car during a traffic stop.
But he wasn’t convicted, Thomsen pointed out, and those incidents are not listed as reasons for his current detention.
Wright was also an alcoholic, but he has been sober for five years.
“The amount of men that he has helped and continues helping in Alcoholics Anonymous is amazing. I mean, he really does a lot for the community,” she added.
Thomsen said Wright has also been helping other detainees, adding they aren’t criminals either.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re on a work visa or a school visa or anything like that. They’re just taking everybody,” she said.
“It just doesn’t make any sense.”