‘She’s pretty stressed out’: Canadian mom speaks to CTV News about life with 7-year-old in ICE detention centre

Abigail Bimman provides an update on a B.C. mother and her 7-year-old daughter who have been detained in a Texas ICE facility for 13 days.

On her 13th day in ICE detention, Canadian Tania Warner tells CTV News she’s the “most stressed” she’s ever been in her life, and so is her seven-year-old daughter Ayla.

“It’s a detention facility, and I’ve been unlawfully detained,” Tania said during a nearly 30-minute phone call from inside the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas. “My mind is so numb, I’m doing my best to keep my head on straight.”

Tania says Ayla, who has autism, has been complaining about being “very itchy” since day three in detention from a rash that covers most of the lower half of her body, as well as her elbows.

Tania believes it’s caused by a combination of stress and the commercial cleaners they’ve been given to clean their ICE-issued clothing, which is mandatory to wear at the facility.

She says after pushing multiple times, she was given some hydrocortisone cream and told to just keep rinsing the clothes in water multiple times and “hope for the best.”

CTV News first reported on the case of the mom and daughter last week. Originally from B.C., Tania is married to an American and has lived in Texas about five years. She and Ayla are in the process of applying for a green card. They were taken into ICE custody at a border checkpoint in Sarita, Texas, on their way home to Kingsville from a baby shower March 14. After spending a few days at a processing centre in Ursula, they were moved to Dilley.

“Being incarcerated with a child is the most surreal experience I’ve ever had. I had no idea that this was a possibility for us, being as we have legal paperwork filed,” she said.

CTV News has reviewed some of their immigration documents and shared them with an immigration lawyer. That includes what’s known as a “prima facie,” which grants an extension as the government processes their cases. Tania and Ayla’s have expiration dates in August and June 2026, respectively.

Immigration lawyer Kerry Doyle describes a prima facie as a preliminary finding in an ongoing case, where the government needs more time.

“It’s clear she’s in the process. She’s clear, she’s pursuing her relief as she should,” Doyle tells CTV News. “That’s not her fault that they have so many cases and not enough resources, not enough people, to actually process the cases in a timely manner.”

Doyle was once the principle legal advisor to ICE during the Biden administration. Later, she was fired from her role as an immigration judge by the Trump administration. Now, she’s with Green and Spiegel, an immigration law firm with a presence in both Canada and the United States.

“Certainly, to arrest a young child who also, I understand, has special needs, and her mother, is just to me a really bad use of resources and traumatizing this family needlessly,” Doyle said.

Tania has faced extra challenges in her U.S. immigration case, given her husband Edward Warner is listed as a registered sex offender in Texas, stemming from an incident in 1999 when he was a teenager. He tells CTV News he received deferred adjudication in his case and is seeking clemency.

In response to questions about Tania and Ayla’s case, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson sent CTV News a statement saying in part, “if you overstay your visa and are in the country illegally, you will be arrested.”

“ICE DOES NOT separate families. Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates.”

Tania tells CTV News she was never given a choice for Ayla not to be detained with her.

The Dilley facility has come under fire for its holding conditions, including accusations nearly 600 children were held without enough food, medical care or mental health services for longer than the court-mandated limit of 20 days.

In the information provided to CTV News, DHS pushed back on claims of mistreatment at Dilley, saying it is “retrofitted for families” and there is ongoing access to medical care.

Tania says her living conditions are better than the average detainee’s because she has a child with her. She says she and Ayla are in a room with 12 bunks, a little couch and a TV where kids can watch cartoons and adults can watch the news. Ayla attends school and there’s a playground.

“It’s like, basically fancy prison,” she said, citing the presence of guards and having to wear prison-like uniforms.

Tania is very concerned about the long-term impact of the ordeal on Ayla. While the seven-year-old understands her freedoms are limited, she sometimes has to be reminded of the rules she’s living under, like when she wants to do something as simple as run around, whenever or wherever she feels like.

“The government that’s supposed to protect people, tore her out of her environment, forced her into a processing facility and then into incarceration. This is going to be one of her core childhood memories.”

Meanwhile, support is mounting to help get the mom and daughter out. Vicente Gonzalez, the local congressman in Kingsville, says he’s “pressing for their immediate release.”

So, too, are the politicians in the B.C. region where they’re from.

Independent MLA Amelia Boultbee says the case is big news in Penticton, and she’s been trying to advocate for the family.

“We’re working with consular services, and I’m in touch with various contacts at the federal government to see if we can find a legal or diplomatic avenue to either secure their release or speed up the process,” she said.

Both she and Conservative MP Helena Konanz say they are concerned for the pair’s well-being.

Konanz says she wants to make sure the government can “do everything we can to get them released.”

Speaking with reporters in Paris on Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she was aware of the case, but declined to provide further details citing privacy.

“I can assure you that we are in touch with the family, and we are doing all we possibly can to advocate for the well being of Canadians. We are doing that in this case, and we do that in every case,” Anand said.

Tania says her understanding is consular officials can only help her if she wants to get back to Canada.

“My livelihood is here [in Texas], my family is here, my life is here. I don’t want to be deported,” she said.

As for next steps, Tania says she has a bond hearing scheduled for Tuesday. She believes the bond could be posted anywhere between $10,000 and $15,000.

The family has launched a GoFundMe, and Tania says legal fees are “destroying us,” at upwards of $20,000 already.

Her focus remains on Ayla’s wellbeing. She says she tries not to bring up how her daughter is missing her friends and her personal belongings, and tries to focus on what positives they can find in detention.

“She’s pretty stressed out. She’s taking it really well. I would have to say she’s my No. 1 hero.”

With files from CTV News’ Judy Trinh and Rachel Hanes and The Associated Press