Detroit woman looking for nearest Costco takes a wrong turn at the U.S.-Canada border. She now faces deportation
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She now faces removal proceedings in June in immigration court, according to Ruby Robinson, senior managing attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.
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On Thursday, Robinson, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and the ACLU of Michigan called for more accountability and transparency by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on detentions along the nation's northern border with Canada.
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The Michigan Democrat said she was told on March 21 by CBP that about 213 people had been detained at the same location since January, with more than 90% mistakenly driving onto the bridge's toll plaza. Tlaib also said she was told 12 families had been detained in the same building where Robinson's client was held.
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'We don't know what exactly is happening. There's a lack of transparency,' she said, adding that similar detentions likely are occurring elsewhere along the 5,525-mile (8,891-kilometer) northern border.
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But Customs and Border Protection said agents encountered just over 200 undocumented people from Jan. 20 to March 21 at crossings in Detroit. About half were detained and turned over to ICE after secondary processing was complete, according to a CBP spokesman.
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The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center is representing the Guatemalan woman. Robinson declined to release her name or age, only confirming that she has been in the U.S. about six years, but has no legal status. Her daughters, ages 5 and 1, were born in the U.S. Their father lives in Detroit.
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On March 8, the woman and her daughters were in a vehicle being driven by her 19-year-old brother. She used a phone app to find the nearest Costco and didn't realize the closest store was on the Canadian side of the bridge, Robinson said during a Zoom call with reporters.
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They drove onto the bridge's toll plaza, but didn't go past the toll booths. They were stopped by CBP agents and taken to a nearby building where she was questioned and fingerprinted. She also signed a form stating she entered the U.S. illegally.
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