London family's trauma at being ‘held after taking wrong turn into US from Canada'

A London family on holiday in Canada say they are “traumatised” after being arrested for accidentally crossing into the US when they took a wrong turn.

David Connors, 30, and his wife Eileen, 24, claim their three-month-old son has been subjected to filthy conditions in a Pennsylvania detention centre.

They were detained along with David’s brother Michael Connors, his wife Grace and their two-year-old twin girls.

They have filed a complaint with the inspector general of the US Department of Homeland Security, calling it the “scariest experience of our entire lives”.

In a sworn statement through their lawyer, Bridget Cambria, they said they were driving with relatives near Vancouver on October 3 when, to avoid an animal, they veered onto a small road.

The road took them out of Canada and into the US. They said that, within moments, multiple police cars and Border Patrol agents appeared and told them: “You crossed an international border.” Mrs Connors said: “It was like an abduction. We will be traumatised for the rest of our lives.” They were arrested despite declaring their innocence. According to the complaint, the authorities did not read them their rights, nor allow them to “simply turn around” and go back to Canada.

They were eventually taken to Seattle airport on October 5 but instead of going home they were flown to the Berks Detention Center in Leesport, Pennsylvania. Ms Cambria said: “They had no idea they had crossed any boundary. They had no idea they were even in the US. They were just trying to get back to their hotel.”

She said it is likely the family will be deported but no paperwork has yet been shared with them or their lawyers.

The couple’s statement says the rooms where they are being held are “frigid” and staff have refused to turn the heating on until the end of next month.

In the statement, Mrs Connors said: “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’.” She said staff confiscated her son’s formula for three days, as well as his teething powder, and would provide only “disgusting” blankets that smelled “like a dead dog”. She 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,” she added. “No-one should have to suffer this kind of treatment.”

A spokesman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed the family were in detention at the BFRC facility in Leesport. He said the centre “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.

Berks is one of three detention centres for migrant families in the US.