Aracely Serrano arrived on Monday, shortly after 8:30 a.m., in the parking lot next to the U.S. port of entry in Niagara Falls, N.Y., where she had recently been detained along with her common-law husband and two daughters in a windowless holding cell for two weeks.
She pulled a light blue suitcase and a black backpack from the trunk of a vehicle that ferried Serrano and her two daughters, Madelin, 14, and Itazayana, 4, from a shelter in Buffalo, N.Y,, to the parking lot.
The trio walked past the stone walls of the U.S. port of entry, beneath the bulbous eyes of the surveillance cameras and through the metal turnstiles below the sign that read, “Entry to Canada.”
“I have hope that this time, yes, it will happen,” she said, her daughters by her side.
Serrano felt this same hope the last time she took this pedestrian walkway across the Rainbow Bridge that spans the Niagara River to Canada. It was March 17, as previously reported by CBC News, and she was crossing with her husband Marcos Guardado and the two girls.
Originally from El Salvador, they had been living undocumented in New Jersey and decided to take the risk of exposure and make an asylum claim in Canada, to escape the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown that had injected fear into their everyday lives.
But Canadian border officials on the other side questioned the veracity of documents Serrano presented that she said proved she had an anchor relative — a brother who is a Canadian citizen — one of the exceptions that allow asylum claims under the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the U.S.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) sent the family back to the U.S. where they were held for two weeks inside cells designated for detentions lasting under 72 hours.
The family managed to breathe fresh air once during their detention, in late March, when they were sent across the bridge to the Canadian port of entry only to be rejected again. They were sent back to the U.S. and into a windowless cell where Itzyana would sometimes wake up crying from bad dreams.
Brother looks for help
While they were detained, Serrano’s brother, Israel Serrano, began making calls, including to the Canada-U.S. Border Rights Clinic, which provides free legal advice to migrants. This is how they found Heather Neufeld, an experienced Ottawa-based immigration lawyer.
Neufeld filed a challenge in the Federal Court of Canada to overturn the CBSA’s rejection of their attempt to file an asylum claim.
Then, last week, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada agreed to allow Serrano to enter Canada and make the claim.
“I think finally the government has recognized that they did the wrong thing, that they made mistakes,” said Neufeld, who accompanied Serrano on this, her third walk across the bridge to Canada.
“Our lives are about to change, forever, for my daughters,” said Serrano, as she approached the lines on the bridge marking the international border which runs through the river below.
“We don’t have to live with this fear anymore.”
But there was still a risk she could be turned away.
After Serrano arrived at the Canadian port of entry, she faced renewed questioning from the CBSA as her case was scrutinized again. Neufeld says she began to worry as the process dragged on.
“There has been a lot of questioning, a lot of investigation,” said Neufeld, in a telephone interview with CBC News from inside the Canadian customs building.
At about 3 p.m. ET, roughly six hours after Serrano first entered the customs office, she received word that she could stay with her daughters in Canada and make her asylum claim.
“I feel extremely relieved, it was super, super stressful not knowing what was going to happen,” said Neufeld.
Outside, against the backdrop of Niagara Falls, the towering plume of spray rolling across the horizon, her brothers Israel and Miguel Serrano, celebrated.
“We hugged each other, we jumped into each other’s arms,” said Israel.
“After all that happened, thanks to God, they’re about to be with us,” said Miguel.
It would take six more hours for paperwork and delays before Serrano, Madelin and Itzayana emerged through the doors of the customs building, under a cool Niagara Falls, Ont., night and into the arms of her waiting brothers.
There were hugs and video calls with family members. It was now after 9 p.m. The coloured lights from marquees and buildings tinted the spray from the falls.
“When they opened the doors and said ‘Welcome to Canada and good luck with your new life’ — I felt an immense joy, it’s indescribable, ” Serrano said.
“My daughters gave me so much strength.”
Strength that was also flowing to her husband, she said.
While U.S. immigration authorities had released Serrano and her daughters on April 1 — requiring them to check in every week — Guardado was sent to an immigration detention centre in Batavia, N.Y. He faces a deportation hearing in June.
Neufeld says they will now work to bring him into Canada, so he can enter the asylum process with his family.
“We’re trying to figure out a possibility of getting him out on bond, which would allow him to come,” she said.
