Q&A: Canadian man held in ICE detention centres for 9 months shares challenges while detained
Curtis Wright, a Canadian man, recounts his nine-month detention in U.S. ICE facilities following a minor drug charge from his youth. He has since been deported back to Canada and is adjusting to life with his family.
Why it matters
Highlights the complexities and human impact of U.S. immigration enforcement policies on long-term residents with past criminal records.
Curtis Wright, 40, who spent most of his life living in the United States, was held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas for nine months after returning from a business trip to Mexico in November.
Wright said the reason he was detained stems from a misdemeanor drug possession charge from when he was 17 years old.
Wright said he was motivated to fight to remain in the U.S to try to be with his two young sons from a previous marriage, aged 8 and 11, who are in Texas.
Wright said he was returned to Canada in mid-August , and is temporarily staying at his parents’ house in Kelowna, B.C., with his fiancée, Kayla Thomsen, and their two-year-old daughter.
In an interview with Edmonton AM on Monday, Wright detailed the challenges he faced while struggling to remain south of the border.
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