Victoria Besancon: friend of Kiwi woman detained by ICE says situation is getting 'desperate'

A friend of a New Zealander detained by the US immigration service says it's a 'desperate' situation.  

Kiwi Sarah Shaw and her six-year-old son are at a Texas detention facility, after being arrested at the US border with Canada three weeks ago.  

Friend Victoria Besancon says the child's legal papers are all in order, but there was some difficulty with Shaw's. 

She says the two can't stay there. 

"The detention centres in America are pretty comparable to prisons, so she's not doing the best."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Either duplessy Allen, could you you're taking me? Nine two nine?
Who is the text? Understand a text? Fore supply and
as I said David C. Moore, Deputy Prime Minister with
US after five on Matt Now there are urgent calls
to help a New Zealand woman and her six year
old son who've been in US immigration detention for almost

(00:21):
three weeks now. Sarah Shaw and her son Isaac normally
live in Washington State. They were coming home from Vancouver
to Washington State, but at that point they were denied
entry into the US and then sent to a detention
facility in Texas. Victoria Bezantsen is a close friend of
Sarah's who's been fighting for her release and is with
US now. Victoria, are you there?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
I am, thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Hey. Have you managed to speak to her while she's
been in detention.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
I am actually one of two people who has allowed
pretty frequent communication with Sarah.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yes, yeah, And how she holding up?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
The detention centers in America are pretty comparable to prisons,
so she's not doing the best.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
And is she with her boy or are they separated?

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Her six year old son is with her in the
detention facility. Each room has about five bunk beds, so
families can stay together.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Is he okay?

Speaker 2 (01:15):
He is not doing as well as we would have hoped.
He's been there almost three weeks now, so he's having
a pretty hard time.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah. Now, what was it? What was wrong with her
paperwork that landed her in this detention center?

Speaker 2 (01:28):
So, because Sarah is on a combination visa when her
when her visa was renewed for her employment, she assumed
the entire visa had been renewed since the visa is
on a singular card. However, she was waiting on her
I three sixty paperwork. It was an appending status and
because that portion wasn't renewed, she was unable to travel

(01:51):
in and out of the country. However, that wasn't it
really explained to her when she got her renewal paperwork
and the visa.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Okay, So what happens next?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
So right now we're waiting to hear back from the
facility tomorrow. There's been a lot of pressure placed on
them from Washington senator and the governor, and we are
hoping that they will at minimum release Isaac, who did
have all of his proper paperwork. They still chose to
detain him illegally.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Okay. Where are the other kids?

Speaker 2 (02:17):
The other two are currently in New Zealand with their
grandparents right now.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Okay. And is there a father here?

Speaker 2 (02:24):
No, their fathers are not in the picture, oh Jess.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Okay, So where does the boy go? If he gets released?

Speaker 2 (02:30):
He will be released to me.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
And how long might you have to care for him
if she gets if she's still stuck in the detention center.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
As long as it takes. I mean, she's one of
my best friends, and I mean our children are like cousins.
So he'll be with us until his mom's released.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Victoria. He can't come back to New Zealand be with
his grandparents.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
He wasn't able to because he's not old enough to
fly un accompanied.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Oh Jesus complicated.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Where is.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Normally in this situation like this, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
in New Zealand would be involved and be advocating on
behalf of this person. Any word from them.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
So her lawyer, I'm not sure if she has fully
been able to reach out to them yet. We had
some representatives from Washington who reacted pretty quickly to this situation,
so we've been relying on their help.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Right now, Okay, the money that you're raising, somebody is
raising on the go fundme page. What's that for?

Speaker 2 (03:24):
So I'm the one who organized the gofund me. The
money is to pay for Sarah's legal representation and her
bills because she was detained outside of Washington State. She
actually has to pay two legal attorneys, one local to
Washington and one local to Texas, and that is incredibly
expensive in the United States.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Okay, what is your vibe on it? How close to
resolution are you on this? Like? How long is she
going to have to be in there? Do you think?

Speaker 2 (03:49):
So? Right now she has been given a court date
to the twenty ninth. We are hoping that they will
release her on the fourteenth, where she'll be able to
have that hearing here in Seattle. But that's really just
dependent upon ices mercy. The climate in America right now
is not friendly to immigration.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Well, okay, Victoria, thanks for talking to us through it appreciated.
That's Victoria Bezantzen, who was a friend of the New
Zealand woman detained by the Bye Ice. Sarah Shaw is
her name? For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive listen
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