TTSOML #208: Choosing My Son Over The State

I said I didn't want to sign it and he said if I didn't, he'd have to arrest me. I had not done anything wrong! But I had no choice. I was coerced to sign it under threat of jail. I hadn't been booked or charged with any crime, up to that point.

So I signed it, and the officer took us back to our car, and I was told we had 24 hours to go back across the very same border. That was the other tip-off.

If they were really letting us "leave together" and stay together, it wouldn't matter which border we crossed unless someone was on the other side, in wait.

I drove towards the direction of the border and then knew I had to get to a computer. I found a library and knocked and the woman let us in. They didn't have computers for the public there, but she said I could use her own computer. It seemed to me that I was already being followed, probably by Canadian immigration or border patrol people, but I can't prove it.

Another woman was happy to play with my son as I quickly went through google, looking up Canadian immigration law. I was hoping to find a better solution. I had been told if I chose to stay and refused to sign the paper, my son would be removed from me and I'd be in jail and then immigration proceedings which could take 2-3 years and by that time, I'd lose my son. I wanted to look up whether Canada kept mothers and infants or toddlers together, to see if what he was saying was true. So I did quick research and found mothers were separated from even babies in political asylum proceedings.

I didn't know what to do. I drove on, with tears streaming down my face. Then I turned around and drove back, and then I drove on towards the border. Then, I decided no, I couldn't go to that border and I was going to go to Radi and say go ahead, I will not go back because you have no idea what we've been through there.

Then I had to get my son's bottle, and I was trying not to let my son see me cry, and I pulled over because I couldn't drive and get his bottle at the same time. When I pulled over, a white SUV pulled up and asked if the car had broken down. He said he was a mechanic. I said no, and burst into tears, and was hysterical and he said to calm down, and drive with him to a location and we'd talk. I told him I had left the U.S. because they were going to take my son away and I was told I had "insufficient funds", etc.

He said he was going to put us in a hotel room. I said if I didn't go over the border that night, I would be defying the law. He said it didn't matter, that I was in no position to drive. Then we talked in the hotel room and he acted like he wanted to be intimate or something. I made it clear I wasn't going to do anything with him and he left. He said he'd be back in the morning but I didn't know if it was the truth.

The next morning he was back with his wife.