London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

A British family detained in the US after crossing the border from Canada expect  'to be released soon'

A British family detained in the US after crossing the border from Canada expect 'to be released soon'

The couple are being held in an immigration centre with their three-month-old baby.

David Connors, 30, and his wife Eilieen, 24, were arrested on 3 October after, they said, they accidentally drove across the border.

The couple and their young baby have been held in a Pennsylvania jail.

In emails to BBC News on Tuesday, the couple said the experience has left them "scarred emotionally".

After their arrest, the family was moved across the country from Washington state to Pennsylvania, to be housed in a family migration detention centre.

"This has been a nightmare, especially for the baby," the Connors wrote in an email to BBC Washington correspondent Chris Buckler on Tuesday.

"To be treated like this is just insane," they wrote, adding that they had visited the US many times previously for holidays.

"We never asked to be here; we should have never been here," they said.

"We are definitely going home in the morning," they continued.

They added that they had no definite plans to return to the US after their release, but hoped to one day take their son to Disney World in Florida.

But Adriana C. Zambrano, Legal Assistant with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc, said the couple had been told before they were going to be released, only for there to be a change of plan.

"So again today they told them that they would be released, but they don't know who to trust, they don't know who to believe, because they were told that before and they were not released.

"That is part of the brutality of immigration detention, is that most of the people who are in immigration detention don't have an idea of when they're going to be released - it is indefinite… there's really no telling of when they're going to be free."


Where were they taken?


The family's attorney, Bridget Cambria, of Aldea, the People's Justice Center, said the couple had been driving south of Vancouver on 3 October when they took a detour to avoid an animal on the road.

The family said they did not realise they had strayed over the US border.

They were stopped by a police officer who did not read them their rights, nor allow them to "simply turn around" and go back to Canada, according to the complaint.

At first the young family said they were separated - with David Connors being held in a male-only cell, and Eileen Connors and their infant son in a women's cell.

Later, the husband was taken to a detention centre in Tacoma, Washington, while his wife and their baby son were taken to a budget hotel near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, according to the complaint.

The following morning they say they were driven to the airport, which raised their hopes that they were being flown back to Canada or the UK.

"But that was not the case," Eileen Connors said in a sworn statement. Instead, they were flown to Pennsylvania - on the other side of the country.

They were taken on 5 October to Berks Family Residential Center (BFRC), one of three immigration detention centres in the US that can accommodate families.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have confirmed the family was in detention at the BFRC facility in Leesport, Pennsylvania.

A spokesman for the agency told the BBC that BFRC "provides a safe and humane environment for families as they go through the immigration process".

"Reports of abuse or inhumane conditions at BFRC are unequivocally false," he added.

'The worst experience'


The couple's sworn statement said the cells were "frigid", and staff had refused to turn the heating on until the end of next month.

"When I ask how I am supposed to keep my baby warm in this horrible cold, all they tell me is to put a hat on him," Mrs Connors said in the statement.

"My baby can't wear a hat all the time, he feels uncomfortable with hats and mittens and starts to cry."

Staff, she added, confiscated her son's formula for three days, as well as his teething powder, and would only provide "disgusting" blankets that smelled "like a dead dog".

They said the baby's skin was now rough and blotchy and he appeared to have an eye infection.

"We have been treated like criminals here, stripped of our rights, and lied to," Mrs Connors said. "It is not right.

"We have been treated unfairly from day one. It is undoubtedly the worst experience we have ever lived through.

"We have been traumatised and it has even damaged our relationship. No one should have to suffer this kind of treatment."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×