DETROIT — A woman detained by border officials at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit this month after wrong directions sent her and her family toward Windsor is free.

But the Guatemalan national, who allegedly entered the United States illegally six years ago, may face deportation to her home country, officials with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center said.

"She's been released," Ruby Robinson, the center's managing attorney, told The Detroit News on Friday. "She was detained for six days and then released."

Based in Detroit, the organization serves as a legal resource center for Michigan's immigrant communities.

Hilton Beckham, assistant commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Detroit Sector, issued a statement about the incident Friday.

"When individuals violate immigration laws, their choices make them subject to detention and removal. In this case, an illegal alien was encountered at the Detroit Ambassador Bridge after driving into Canada without travel documents," the statement said. "She admitted to unlawfully entering the U.S. in 2018. Per policy, CBP worked to find a suitable guardian for her U.S.-citizen children; however, she initially chose to keep them with her, prolonging the detention period. Once the children were placed with a guardian, she was transferred to ICE."

Robinson said the incident happened at about 2:30 p.m. on March 8 when the woman, named Sarahi, was traveling to a Metro Detroit Costco store with her two daughters, ages 1 and 5, and her 19-year-old brother.

He said the GPS her brother used for directions sent them to the Costco store in Windsor. Sarahi realized the mistake when she arrived at the Ambassador Bridge, according to the attorney.

Robinson said even though their vehicle didn't cross the bridge or leave the U.S., border patrol officers detained Sarahi, her brother and her children after they determined the adults were undocumented immigrants.

Michigan Immigrant Rights Center officials and Sarahi claim the officers kept the woman and her young children in a windowless room in a one-story building near the bridge for days. She told her attorney she had no idea where she was being kept.

MIRC said she told officers that Sarahi's daughters were U.S. citizens, and the authorities gave her the option of calling someone to pick them up to take them home.

Robinson said Sarahi did not want her children separated from her. She also told him that for six days, officers did not allow her access to legal counsel or permit her to communicate with an attorney or the Guatemalan consulate.

He said officers fed the three only instant food that could be prepared with hot water, like oatmeal or ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese.

"They did not even have diapers for her 1-year-old," the attorney said.

Two days after being detained, her youngest daughter became ill, according to Robinson. She had a fever and her older sister was getting a cough, he said.

Authorities released Sarahi's daughters five days after they were taken into custody at the bridge, Robinson said. They were picked up by her sister-in-law.

The next day, Robinson said, officers released Sarahi after she signed a legal document saying she would appear in court for a hearing in June. He said the hearing is the start of the formal deportation process.

Her bother remains detained, the lawyer said.

"We heard rumors about people being detained in short-term spaces at the bridge for extended periods since the beginning of February," Robinson said. "But we hadn't been able to verify it because attorneys are usually not permitted at ports of entry."

He said the main concerns for the center are the lack of transparency about detentions at the Ambassador Bridge and the access the accused have to legal counsel.

"There also needs to be oversight on the detention conditions at the bridge," Robinson said.

The White House has made a strong push for deportation since President Donald Trump took office in January, fulfilling a repeated promise he made on the campaign trail.

Trump signed 10 executive orders on immigration on his first day in office among a flurry of executive actions since then. They include orders to stop legal services for unaccompanied immigrant children and another that halts a key immigration court program in Michigan. They also included ending automatic citizenship for people born in the United States and asylum at the southern border. The birthright citizenship order has been temporarily halted in court, according to the Associated Press.

Southwest Detroit residents have been leery of stepped-up immigration efforts for several months, and area organizations have been reminding immigrants of their rights should they be questioned or detained.

Federal officials carrying out a crackdown on illegal immigration in Metro Detroit have caused the number of criminal cases filed in federal court to rise sharply, The Detroit News reported this month.

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