A Canadian woman and her seven-year-old daughter with autism who have been held by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for nearly a week have been transferred to a notorious detention center and asked to “self-deport”, according to her husband, who said the pair had been “traumatized” by the experience.

Tania Warner and her daughter Ayla Luca, originally from British Columbia, moved to the US five years ago, when Warner married Edward Warner, a US citizen.

The family lives in Kingsville, Texas, and were driving home from a baby shower in Raymondville on 14 March when they were stopped at a border patrol checkpoint in Sarita.

Since then, Warner said that he had been only been able to have short telephone calls to his wife that often last no longer than a few minutes.

“She says she’s traumatized … They’re not good,” he said, adding that his wife was forced to whisper during the calls so that officials could not overhear the conversation.

“She said the border patrol agents are just absolute pieces of shit,” said Warner, who added that Ayla had developed a rash during her time in detention.

Warner said that Tania had been told she could be released if she agreed to “self-deport” to Canada. “We don’t want that at all,” he said. “They are my family.”

Warner said his family has been detained unlawfully, as all Tania’s paperwork to live and work in the US is valid until 2030.

Tania’s cousin Amber Sinclair said: “She has a social security card. She has a functional visa. That’s good until 2030, so I don’t understand why they’re stopping her and detaining her.”

The family is scrambling to raise enough money to pay for legal help, she said.

Vicente Gonzalez, a Democratic congressman for Texas’s 34th congressional district, said in a statement that his office was working for the family’s release.

“Tania has a work permit and is part of the fabric of our Kingsville community; she nor her daughter Ayla, a 7-year-old with autism, should be in detention,” he states.

“We must bring them home and reunite yet another family being ripped apart by this Administration’s rogue immigration enforcement operations,” he said.

Warner and Ayla were originally held at Rio Grande Valley Central processing center in McAllen, Texas, but were moved early on Friday the Dilley immigration processing center in south Texas.

Dilley was originally opened under Barack Obama but was shuttered while Joe Biden was president. It reopened in early 2025 to hold detained families together. It has been heavily criticized by lawyers, human rights advocates and detainees for its inhumane conditions as reported by the Guardian, including outbreaks of disease, a lack of clean drinking water and poor medical care.

But since the move to Dilley, Warner and Ayla now at least have mattresses to sleep on, whereas at Rio Grande they were sleeping on the floor, said Edward Warner.

Global Affairs Canada, the federal ministry that handles consular services and diplomatic relations, said on Thursday it was “aware of multiple cases of Canadians currently or previously in immigration-related detention in the US”.

“Consular officials advocate for Canadian citizens abroad and raise concerns about justified and serious complaints of ill-treatment or discrimination with the local authorities but cannot exempt Canadians from local legal processes,” a spokesperson said. “Due to privacy considerations, no further information can be disclosed.”

When asked why Warner and Ayla had been detained, an ICE spokesperson requested more information about the pair “in order to accurately locate” them. The Guardian provided that information, but at the time of publication ICE had not responded.

Heather Neufeld, an Ottawa-based immigration lawyer who has worked on many cases involving ICE detainees, says Canada should be doing everything possible to get them out of detention, but that would likely involve agreeing to take them back to Canada.

Neufeld also says that ICE has been keeping people for prolonged periods instead of deporting them.

“There are people who have spent a year, two years, in ICE detention, rather than deporting them quickly,” said Neufeld, adding that people are sometimes moved dozens of times between detention centers.

“Getting people out has been incredibly difficult right now … in a lot of cases, the only way to get someone potentially out … is in federal courts – so nothing quick,” she said.