Foreign Affairs officials have been in touch with local authorities in Texas where a nine-year-old Canadian boy and his Iranian parents are being detained, officials have confirmed.
The boy and his family were on board a non-stop chartered Zoom Airlines Flight from Guyana to Canada on Feb. 4 when the plane made an unscheduled stop because a passenger suffered a heart attack.
All passengers were told to disembark when the plane was diverted to Puerto Rico for the emergency landing.
Customs officials say it was while they were checking documentation that they found a family with passports that had been reported stolen by the Greek government.
The family was held in Puerto Rico for five days before being transported to the T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center. They remain in custody at the Taylor, Tex. Centre, where about 220 adults and 200 children are being detained, according to The Globe and Mail.
The centre has recently come under scrutiny for poor medical care and allegedly detaining children in sub-standard conditions.
The New York Times reported that the American Civil Liberties Union is examining conditions at the centre as it mulls filing a lawsuit that argues the rules protecting detained juveniles are being violated.
Foreign Affairs is "aware of the detention of two Iranian citizens and a Canadian minor in Texas," spokeswoman Ambra Dickie told The Globe.
"We're in contact with local authorities and we're following the situation closely. We're providing consular assistance as per our mandate."
The boy's Iranian parents, who have no status in Canada, initially fled Iran for Canada in January 1995, and sought political asylum.
Their son was born in Toronto in 1997. They were denied refuge and were deported back to Iran in December 2005 after all their legal avenues came to a dead end.
The boy's parents have claimed in interviews that they were previously imprisoned and suffered physical and sexual abuse in Iran. The boy's parents also claimed they were detained and tortured when they were sent back to the country.
When they were released from custody, the family fled to Turkey where they purchased phoney documents.
They were on their way back to Canada to seek refuge again in February when the plane made the unscheduled stop in Puerto Rico.
The family, which has asked to remain anonymous, has retained the services of Barbara Hines, University of Texas law professor.
The boy is reported to have said in a previous interview: "I want to be free. I want to go outside, and I want to go to school. I want to be in my homeland: Canada."
