In a troubling incident, a seven-year-old girl with autism and her mother were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after attending a baby shower. The pair, Tania Warner, originally from Canada, and her daughter Ayla Lucas, were taken into custody in Sarita, Texas, following a stop at a checkpoint near the US-Mexico border on Saturday. According to Tania’s husband, Edward Warner, a US citizen, the two have been forced to sleep on mats at a detention center since their detention. The family, who reside in Kingsville, Texas, were returning from Raymondville when they were stopped and asked to present their documentation.

Edward recounted to CTV News that he provided his documents while Tania showed her Texas driver’s license, work visa, and visa. However, after being taken in for fingerprinting, Tania did not return. Twenty minutes later, officers requested to fingerprint Ayla as well, and she too did not come back. Tania, a bodybuilder, and her daughter have been living legally in the US for five years, having relocated from British Columbia, and are in the process of obtaining their green cards. Officials mentioned an issue with Tania’s Employment Authorization Document number, but Edward remains uncertain about the specific reasons for their ongoing detention.

Edward expressed to CTV News his fear and frustration, especially since the documentation they provided should have been valid. “It’s terrifying and extremely frustrating,” he shared. The fingerprints of Tania and Ayla were sent to Washington, D.C., but clearance for their release was denied, leading to their transfer to the Rio Grande Valley Central Processing Center in McAllen. Edward is appalled by the conditions at the facility, where his wife and daughter have been using “space blankets” and sleeping on mats. “The food is terrible… it’s overcrowded and very loud, and they’re extremely stressed,” he reported. Both Edward and Tania’s mother, Heather Fleck, are deeply concerned about Ayla, given her autism. “It’s no place for a seven-year-old,” Edward lamented. Fleck added, “This situation is going to be devastating.”

Edward has gone to Global Affairs Canada, but they did not help, as his wife and daughter are not looking to go back to their home country. He also hired a lawyer and started a GoFundMe to help with the expenses of getting his wife and daughter back. ‘It’s very frustrating. It’s lonely, it’s quiet. I don’t care for it,’ he told the outlet. Another Canadian living in America has also been detained in Texas after returning home from a business trip in Mexico. Curtis Wright, 39, who lives in Houston, Texas , was grabbed by ICE agents and taken to the South Texas Processing Center last November.

The oil and gas worker, originally from Edmonton in Alberta, was flagged by authorities after touching down at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston after a business trip in Mexico. His father, Jim Wright, spoke with CTV News and said the reason his son is being held stemmed from a minor drug possession conviction dating back two decades. According to the elder Wright, who also lives in Texas, his son was found to have a lone Xanax pill in the backseat of his truck 22 years ago when he was in high school. He also said that he was hit with a misdemeanor charge involving a handgun being found in a car he was driving, and driving impaired eight years ago. Speaking from the facility, Wright told the outlet: ‘None of it has been enjoyable. The separation from family has been miserable.’ The father-of-three added that the conditions inside are ‘pretty awful’, describing it as ‘run down’ and filled with ‘mold, dirt and grime.’