WASHINGTON — Edward Warner says each day has felt like a nightmare since his Canadian spouse and her seven-year-old daughter have been taken into custody at a United States border patrol checkpoint in Texas final week.
He instructed The Canadian Press he was travelling residence from a child bathe Saturday along with his partner Tania Warner and her daughter Ayla Lucas, who has autism, and needed to cease on the U.S. Customs and Border Safety checkpoint in Sarita.
They’d gone by means of the checkpoint many instances earlier than with none points.
“We had all our paperwork with us,” he stated. “She had her work visa, her Texas state driver’s licence and her passport together with her.”
A border patrol agent took the paperwork however returned round 10 minutes later, he stated, and instructed Tania that she would must be fingerprinted inside the ability.
One other quarter-hour later, he stated, the agent instructed him Ayla would additionally must be fingerprinted.
Mom and daughter by no means returned to Edward’s automobile. He stated he was instructed solely that they weren’t legally allowed to be in america.
He was left to drive alone for an hour to their residence in Kingsville. He didn’t hear from his spouse till she made a short telephone name the next morning.
“They’re scared, they’re stressed,” he stated. “They have been telling me in regards to the sleeping scenario and the meals and the whole lot like that and all of it simply appeared so horrible.”
Tania Warner is from Penticton, B.C. and met her husband by means of TikTok about 5 years in the past. The long-distance romance shortly blossomed after she visited Edward in Texas.
Six months after that journey, Tania moved to Texas. One other six months handed and the couple — he’s a tattoo artist, she’s a health and diet coach — have been married.
That they had a quiet and loving life, the husband stated. Tania was going by means of the method to get a inexperienced card, which required her to spend 1000’s of {dollars} and endure a legal file test.
Edward stated his spouse has no legal historical past and has saved her immigration paperwork updated. He stated he nonetheless hasn’t been instructed why his spouse and Ayla have been taken into custody.
“I don’t know what’s occurring,” he stated.
U.S. Customs and Border Safety has not but responded to a request for remark.
The mom and daughter have been held within the Rio Grande Valley Central Processing Middle in McAllen, Texas after their apprehension. They have been transferred to the immigrant detention centre for households in Dilley, Texas on Friday.
That facility has confronted controversy over studies of worms within the meals, poor medical care and lights saved on across the clock.
The mom and daughter got the choice to self-deport, Edward stated, and have been instructed that in the event that they accepted they’d be moved to a extra snug facility.
“I feel that’s why they depart the lights on all evening and provides them house blankets and the whole lot like that,” he stated. “I feel they need them to self-deport as a result of it’s much less paperwork or one thing.”
That’s not an choice for them, Edward stated.
“I would like them simply as a lot as they want me.”
He stated that now that his spouse and stepdaughter have been moved to the detention centre, he’s hoping to obtain extra details about why they’re being detained. He stated their lawyer also needs to have the ability to lastly get entry to the mom and daughter.
He has began a GoFundMe account to assist cowl their authorized charges.
He stated the detention has been particularly onerous on Ayla — the modifications to her common life construction have led to emphasize and meltdowns.
Edward stated he has been involved with the Canadian Embassy in Washington.
International Affairs Canada stated in an emailed assertion that the division “is conscious of a number of instances of Canadians at the moment or beforehand in immigration-related detention within the U.S. and has acquired requests for data and help from people and their members of the family.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed March 20, 2026.
Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press