Rod Price, the father of New Zealand woman Carly Shaw, still hopes she will be released. Shaw remains in custody in the United States with her six-year-old son. Shaw was interrogated at the U.S. border and detained in the process. Though she had all the necessary travel documents for her daughter, she, too, was threatened with deportation. Her attorney, Minda Thorward, still holds out hope that the detention was due to an innocent administrative error.
Shaw has spent the last three years of her life living in Washington. Her work, combined with her efforts to overcome formative barriers, helped her secure a “combo card.” This temporary immigration document gives her employment authorization. It legitimatizes her presence while she awaits adjudication on her I-360 application, aiding survivors of domestic violence achieve immigration status through peaceful means. Just the other day, she got a letter telling her that her combo card is being renewed.
Even with her proper travel documents and immigration status in flux, Shaw was not allowed entry at the border. As Thorward explains, CBP border patrol agents had the discretion to parole Shaw into the U.S. Instead, both she and her son ended up in shackles.
“They went to go back across into the U.S., and then I got a frantic call to say that she’s being detained and ‘they’re about to take my phone off me’ and ‘they’re locking me up for the night,’” Rod Price recounted in an interview with local broadcaster RNZ. This heartbreaking scenario is cause for alarm, not just for Shaw, but for her 3-year-old son. Like Thorward, many argue that her son should not have been detained in the first place. “There was absolutely no reason for [her son] to be detained. It’s unconscionable,” she stated.
New Zealand’s foreign affairs ministry is working hard behind the scenes to ensure swift communication on Shaw’s plight. Shaw’s legal team late last week received intel via a paper trail – and one released cut-off date, indicating her release. The immigration court hasn’t confirmed any of this information with Thorward, either.
Rod Price is still looking forward, hoping that the decision will come soon and favor him and his family. I still think Shaw will be freed,” he stated confidently. An uncertain, emotionally taxing situation on the family. Once again, many are reacting in shock at the kind of brutal treatment that Shaw and her son have suffered.
“It really is kind of like being in jail … it has been absolutely devastating and it’s kind of barbaric,” said Victoria Besancon, a family friend who is closely following the case.