'Felt like a kidnapping': Wrong turn leads to 5-day detention ordeal
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On Saturday, March 8, a woman named Sarahi hopped into the car with her two kids and her 19-year old brother to drive from their home in Detroit, Michigan to do some shopping at the local Costco and get some lunch.
A few minutes into the drive, the GPS instructed them to turn onto the Ambassador Bridge, which is a one-way toll road that connects the U.S. and Canada. Sarahi says she quickly realized her mistake as American immigration agents approached β theyβd accidentally typed in directions to the Costco in Windsor, Ontario, on the Canadian side of the border.
Accidentally driving onto the Ambassador Bridge to Canada from the Detroit-area is a common mistake. Locals say itβs an area that is always under construction and can be confusing.
But for Sarahi, it was a life-altering wrong turn: she and her brother are both Guatemalan immigrants in the U.S. without legal status. She requested NPR only use her first name because she fears retaliation for speaking with the media.
For the next five days, Sarahi said she and her children were held in a windowless office space, in a one story building between the toll plaza and the bridge, with no access to legal counsel or communication with her consulate.
Her two daughters, ages 1 and 5, are both American citizens. As a result of that wrong turn, she says her family lived through a nightmare that βfelt like a kidnapping.β
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βFelt like a kidnappingβ: Wrong turn leads to 5-day detention ordeal : NPR
A Guatemalan immigrant without legal status says she took a wrong turn on a highway near the Canadian border and was detained with her two children...
