NZ woman and son detained by US immigration
A Kiwi woman and her six-year-old son are being held at an immigration processing centre in Texas, after being detained by US immigration. Correspondent Simon Marks spoke to Corin Dann.
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NZ Herald
15 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
New Zealand officials bid for release of Kiwi woman Sarah Shaw, son from US immigration centre
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was having a meeting about whether Isaac would be released tomorrow, she said. 'As for Sarah, her work visa is still current. She still is able to be within the United States and all of her son's paperwork was current and approved. So there was actually no reason for him to be detained.' A New Zealand woman and her six-year-old son who live in Washington state have been detained by US immigration. Photo / GoFundMe Besancon earlier told the Herald that she's hoping to get an update on Shaw's detention status by tomorrow. Shaw was detained on July 24 crossing the border back into the US after driving her two oldest children, Grace, 11, and Seth, 9, to the airport in Vancouver for a flight to New Zealand. Isaac didn't go on the trip because he wasn't old enough to fly unaccompanied. Besancon told Morning Report that the conditions in the centre, where Shaw and her son are being held together, are 'very similar to a prison'. They are only allowed to roam freely between 8am and 8pm, otherwise being locked in a room with multiple other families, none of whom speak English, she said. Shaw's lawyer, Minda Thorward, told local media she had a temporary immigration document which allowed her to travel and re-enter the US, but there was an 'administrative error' with it. Shaw and her son were being held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Centre in Dilley, Texas. A GoFundMe was set up by Besancon to get Shaw and her son back home to Washington. Family and friends are pleading for the release of a Kiwi mother of three and her 6-year-old son after they were detained by US immigration. Photo / Supplied Besancon told the Herald yesterday that Shaw is 'absolutely terrified.' The children in New Zealand had not heard from their mother since the day she was detained. The children on the way to Canada, excited to see their grandparents. Photo / Supplied Besancon said ICE should have put Shaw and her son in a locator system and filed paperwork establishing a court date, which it did not do for almost three weeks. 'It was about two-and-a-half weeks of basically legal-sanctioned kidnapping, which is a really big deal here in America.' Family and friends are pleading for the release of a Kiwi mother of three and her 6-year-old son after they were detained by US immigration. Photo / Supplied Besancon has been able to speak with Shaw in a controlled capacity because Shaw signed a privacy release between herself, Besancon and her lawyer. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson (MFAT) said yesterday that consular officials were aware of reports of a New Zealander and her young son in detention in the United States and were seeking further information. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Trump claims Washington's murder rate is higher than Bogotá or Mexico City. Here's what the stats from those countries say
President Donald Trump has intensified his criticism of the security situation in Washington, DC. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource By Rocío Muñoz-Ledo , Germán Padinger , CNN US President Donald Trump has stepped up his criticism of the security situation in Washington, DC, now claiming that the US capital has a homicide rate higher than some Latin American capitals such as Bogotá, Mexico City and Lima. During a press conference on Monday, Trump announced that he would place the Metropolitan Police Department "under direct federal control" and deploy 800 National Guard troops in an effort to "take back the city." "The murder rate in Washington today is higher than that of Bogotá, Colombia; Mexico City, or some of the places that you hear about as being the worst places on Earth. It's much higher," Trump said. Trump said the move to "liberate" Washington was part of a broader initiative to "take back control" of cities he said were threatened by violence . "All is double or triple, so you want to live in places like that? I don't think so," the president said, referring to the fact that Washington surpasses Latin American cities like Brasilia, Panama City, and San José in homicide rates. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called Trump's decision to place the Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and deploy the National Guard "alarming and unprecedented." While she said she wasn't entirely surprised, she warned in a press conference that she would not "minimize the intrusion on the autonomy" of the city. Bowser also assured residents that the local government continues to operate "in a way that makes citizens proud" and has since met with Attorney General Pam Bondi, who, according to the executive order, will have the authority delegated by Trump to coordinate actions with the city. The mayor also clarified that "nothing has changed" in the Metropolitan Police Department's organizational chart. Trump said the move to "liberate" Washington was part of a broader initiative to "take back control" of cities he said were threatened by violence. Photo: AFP Trump based his statements on a graph corresponding to 2024, which shows a homicide rate of 27.5 per 100,000 inhabitants in Washington, a figure that - according to him - would place it above Bogotá, Colombia (15), Panama City, Panama (15), San José, Costa Rica (13), Mexico City, Mexico (10), Lima, Peru (7.7), and Brasilia, Brazil (6.8). Official statistics for all these cities, obtained from organizations such as Mexico's INEGI, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Panama, and the goverment of the capital of Brazil, Brasilia, among others, seem to confirm Trump's statement: Washington did surpass several Latin American capitals in the murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants in recent years, although this is only one of many other crime rates. However, the most recent official data reflect a more nuanced picture. According to an analysis by CNN journalist Daniel Dale, crime in Washington has declined significantly since a spike in 2023, when 274 homicides were recorded, the highest number in more than two decades. In 2024, murders dropped to 187, and so far in 2025, they continue to decline. Data from crime expert Jeff Asher, cited by Dale, indicates that homicides in Washington fell 34% compared with 2023 through July of this year. Furthermore, the violent crime rate in 2024 was the second lowest since 1966. A preliminary analysis by the Washington Metropolitan Police Department confirms this trend: Overall crime has also decreased so far in 2025, in line with the sustained decline seen in other major US cities, such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. - CNN
NZ Herald
4 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Coroner to probe 1978 Queensland outback murders in October
A date has been set for a coroner to probe the cold case deaths of three people who were gunned down in the Queensland outback. Photo / Supplied Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. A date has been set for a coroner to probe the cold case deaths of three people who were gunned down in the Queensland outback. Photo / Supplied A date has been set for a coroner to probe the cold case deaths of three people who were gunned down in the Queensland outback, with a court being told an 'extensive' brief of evidence would only be ready one month before the hearing. More than 40 years after Australian woman Karen Edwards, 23, her Kiwi boyfriend Timothy Thomson, 31, and their Kiwi friend Gordon Twaddle, 21, were found dead in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Coroner David O'Connell is set to examine the mysterious circumstances surrounding how they died and the adequacy of the police investigation. Edwards, Thomson and Twaddle were found in bush with gunshot wounds at Spear Creek, near Mt Isa, in October 1978. The trio were on a motorcycle trip around Australia when they were killed. Cold case investigators, with the assistance of Mount Isa Criminal Investigation Branch, began a review into the unsolved 40-year-old homicide investigation in 2018.
