A Guatemalan woman living in Detroit is facing deportation proceedings after an errant GPS route to a Costco took her and her two U.S.-born daughters to the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Michigan to Canada. According to her lawyer, Ruby Robinson of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, the family was held in custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for nearly a week after stopping at the international toll plaza, despite never actually crossing the bridge.
The incident, which took place on March 8, has sparked renewed calls for transparency and reform at the northern border, where detentions like this one, though less common than at the U.S.-Mexico border, are not unheard of. U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib joined Robinson and the ACLU of Michigan in demanding accountability from CBP, citing a broader pattern of confusion, detention, and lack of due process at crossings like the one in Detroit.
The woman, who has lived in the U.S. without legal status for about six years, was traveling with her five- and one-year-old daughters and her 19-year-old brother, who was driving. After entering the toll plaza in error, the family was stopped by agents and brought to a nearby facility where they were interrogated. The woman, who has not been named, was fingerprinted and signed a document acknowledging she entered the U.S. illegally. Robinson said CBP agents encouraged her to accept deportation and take her daughters with her back to Guatemala.
Over the following days, the woman and her daughters were held in a small, windowless room with cots and minimal amenities. Their meals consisted of microwaveable food, and they were only allowed to leave the room to use the restroom or shower. When the younger child developed a fever, agents reportedly told the mother they had no medicine. Soon after, the older daughter developed a cough. The family briefly saw the woman’s brother—also undocumented—in shackles while walking in the facility hallway.
On March 12, the woman’s daughters were released into the care of her sister-in-law, and she was released the following day. CBP later confirmed the woman had entered the U.S. unlawfully in 2018, and said they worked to place her children with a suitable guardian during her detention. A statement from CBP Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham emphasized that violating immigration laws can result in detention and removal, and added that the mother’s decision to initially keep her daughters with her extended the length of their detention.
Tlaib, a member of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, criticized the broader implications of the incident. She pointed to a lack of due process and transparency, and said cases like this erode trust and safety for immigrant communities. According to information Tlaib received from CBP, approximately 213 people were detained at the Ambassador Bridge between January and March of this year, with more than 90 percent making the same mistake by unintentionally entering the toll plaza.
The woman, who resides in Detroit’s Southwest neighborhood—a predominantly Hispanic area near the bridge—now awaits a hearing in immigration court scheduled for June. Her lawyer and advocates say her case is emblematic of a flawed system in which simple navigation errors can spiral into traumatic legal ordeals.