Jogger held for two weeks in U.S. after accidentally crossing Canada border

The coast of White Rock, B.C., looks to be an ideal place for a run.

That’s what 19-year-old Cedella Roman thought when she went jogging along the area’s smooth beaches — in a southbound direction, notably — on May 21.

Roman, who lives in France, had been visiting her mother in nearby North Delta, B.C.

During her run, she unwittingly crossed the border from Canada into the United States, Roman told the CBC. The demarcation line between the two countries, it turns out, is only about five kilometres from White Rock’s popular wooden pier.

Roman told CBC News she hadn’t seen any signs indicating she was about to cross into the United States, but two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers approached her shortly after she accidentally left Canada.

“An officer stopped me and started telling me I had crossed the border illegally,” Roman told the news site.

“I told him I had not done it on purpose, and that I didn’t understand what was happening.”

Roman — who was not carrying any identification or proof of citizenship with her during her jog — told CBC News she thought the Border Patrol officers might simply let her go with a warning.

That was not to be the case, according to U.S. immigration officials, who confirmed the subsequent events in an email to The Washington Post.

Instead, the Border Patrol arrested Roman on May 21, “processed her as an expedited removal,” then transferred her to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to ICE spokesperson Carissa Cutrell.

On May 22, Roman was taken to an ICE detention centre in Tacoma, Wash., about 225 kilometres south of the border point where she had been arrested.

She remained detained until June 5 when, after two weeks of paperwork and processing, Roman was taken back to the border “and removed to Canada,” Cutrell said.

When asked why Roman was detained for two weeks, an ICE official indicated that Roman’s status as a French citizen, rather than a Canadian one, may have lengthened the time it took to process her case.

“Once the U.S. Border Patrol transfers an individual to ICE custody for expedited removal to Canada, ICE must review the case and receive permission from the Canada Border Services Agency to complete the removal,” an ICE official said.

“This can take several days, especially when the individual is a third-country national.”

Roman recounted to CBC News that she was frightened after Border Patrol agents put her in “the caged vehicles” to transport her to a detention centre.

“They asked me to remove all my personal belongings with my jewelry. They searched me everywhere,” Roman said. “Then I understood it was getting very serious, and I started to cry a bit.”