BURST
Curtis Wright used to start his mornings by waking up his one-and-a-half-year-old daughter and the first words he’d often hear were “Dada.”
For the past four months, that has been replaced by phone calls from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre in Texas since the Edmonton-born man has been separated from the life he’s built in the United States for the past three decades.
Since his incarceration on Nov. 6, 2025, he’s missed his daughter’s first steps and missed precious time with his two older sons.
“It’s been a challenge, not just for myself, but everyone involved. For my family, it’s been one of the most difficult moments of my life,” said Wright in an interview with Postmedia earlier this month from the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas.
“The most difficult part of this all is without a doubt being separated from my family. Being away from my fiancee and my children, and missing out on the milestones with them.
“I’m missing so many milestones. Hearing these things, they warm your heart, but they break it at the same time.”
The 39-year-old is a permanent resident of the United States and has held a green card for 25 years after having renewed it three different times with no issues.
Wright works in the oil and gas industry and was coming back from a work trip from Mexico in November when he was pulled aside for a second screening and then was detained by ICE.
‘Devastating for our family’
ICE’s reasons for detaining him stem from drug-possession charges when he was 17. He was caught with Xanax, commonly used to treat anxiety and panic disorders.
Wright has three misdemeanors on his criminal record — the drug possession, a gun possession and impaired driving charge. His drug possession charges were adjudicated and he was found not guilty of the gun possession charge and can’t face deportation from the impaired driving charge.
“This is devastating for our family,” said Wright’s fiancee, Kayla Thomsen, in an interview with Postmedia from their home in Spring, Texas, 40 km north of Houston.
“Our daughter carries around pictures of him around the house, and she cuddles them in the morning and when she goes to bed.
“Every time the phone rings, she’s constantly saying Dada. That’s the only way she hears his voice now is through the phone.”
‘A green card is a privilege, not a right’: ICE
Earlier this week, Postmedia contacted a public affairs officer with U.S. Immigration, and was told Wright was denied entry because of his previous criminal history. United States Customs and Border Protection arrested him and turned him over to ICE, where he remains in custody pending the outcome of his immigration case.
“A green card is a privilege, not a right. Under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused. In addition to immigration removal proceedings, lawful permanent residents presenting at a U.S. port of entry with previous criminal convictions may be subject to mandatory detention,” said a public affairs officer with U.S. Immigration in an emailed statement.
Wright describes his detainment as an emotional roller coaster and it’s a “day-by-day grind.” He said it’s hard being pulled in so many different directions and being kept in the dark about when this will have a definite solution.
His hearings with a judge continue to get cancelled or pushed ahead. His original court date was slated for last Dec. 3, but was pushed forward multiple times since then.
Wright said ICE uses these tactics to try and break the will of those detained.
“It’s designed this way, so you will give up, that you have enough and you sign voluntary deportation papers and just go home, so you don’t even get a shot to go through the court process,” said Wright.
“I know guys that have been here for five to seven months and they haven’t even been to court. There’s guys (from different countries) in my dorm that have been here for two years.”
Wright said that while many people are led to believe that U.S. President Donald Trump is pursuing these actions through ICE to remove tough hardened criminals off the streets, it’s simply not the case.
‘An eye-opener’
Wright said the the living conditions in these facilities is “downright awful.” He went 41 days without being given his colitis medicine. The facilities are dirty and they’re not getting fed proper portions of food.
“As far as the treatment of people in here, I didn’t think this kind of stuff went on in America. I didn’t believe that the administration and the government of the United States would be as dishonest as they are. People in here aren’t gang members, or drug dealers, they’re not murderers, they’re not convicts, they’re just every day people, and it’s an eye-opener,” said Wright.
Wright isn’t one to shy away from his past. For a good portion of his life, he was addicted to alcohol after being molested as a child. At the age of 15, he was drug raped and that ultimately led him down a dark path.
He’s been sober for four years and, through his recovery, he’s owned his mistakes and looked at the positives in his life.
“It’s what led to my charge when I was 17, but my life has been a lot of struggle and there’s been a lot of tough times, both mentally and emotionally. But I found a new way of life and ways to stay on the positive side of things,” said Wright.
“The programs that I work with today, it’s taught me to accept my circumstances. I can take pity, anger and self-hatred, or I can just find ways to be strong for my family and maybe help some others along the way, and that’s what I’ve tried to do.”
Paying it forward
Wright and his family have started a Go Fund Me to help pay for some of the legal costs that they’ve endured, but the majority of the funds have been set aside to help others that Wright has met while being detained.
So far, he’s helped 13 people from all around the world that have been detained in the five different facilities he’s been locked up throughout Texas since November.
“Throughout this experience, I get to hear good stories, like my buddy Ron from Nepal, who’s been in here for over two years. We were able to get him a phone call so he could talk to his daughter on her 15th birthday,” said Wright.
“So many of these people have no support. They have no money, no way to call home to their families.
“I’ve found a purpose in here, in a way to spend my time in a positive way, by helping the other men.
What happens now
Thomsen, the fiancee, said after Wright’s hearings with the judge continued to get pushed forward, he met with Judge Jennifer L. Mazza on March 13. She forfeited his trial date and said she is ordering him to be deported.
Wright’s lawyer Matt Mendez informed Mazza that they will appeal the decision and, despite filing significant evidence that Wright is being illegally detained and shouldn’t be facing deportation, she denied the motion.
“She forfeited his trial. She completely made her own ruling on a day that was not supposed to be a trial day,” said Thomsen.
“He never got to his calendar hearing. We have a month to file the appeal, but we’re not going to file the appeal until the Habeas corpus request gets granted, because if we file the appeal without it, he risks being in there for a significant amount of time. Could be years.”
A Habeas corpus is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual and request to bring the prisoner to court to determine whether their detention is lawful.
Thomsen fears that if they don’t get the Habeas corpus in place within a couple of weeks, Wright will be deported and, while she and their daughter will move to Canada with him, he won’t be able to see his two sons, who he’s fought to gain 50-50 custody.
“We’ve been waiting seven weeks. We’ve been patiently waiting for it to come through, and we’re not sure why it’s taking so long,” said Thomsen.
“It’s the only way he can get out and he can fight this case.
“He’s been gone for over four months now, and if he has to sit in there for another year, it’s not worth it for him to miss out on his daughter growing up, or being able to talk to his boys.”
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