HOUSTON – A Houston-area family says they are running out of answers and patience as they fight to bring home their loved one who has been in immigration detention since November.
Curtis Wright, 39, a legal U.S. permanent resident originally from Canada, was detained November 6 after returning from a business trip to Mexico. His family says he was taken into custody at George Bush Intercontinental Airport after going through customs.
“And when he landed at Bush, they pulled him aside for a second screening,” said his fiancée, Kayla Thomsen. “A couple hours later, he let us know that he was being detained and sent to an ICE detention center. We were baffled. Like, this can’t happen.”
Wright is currently being held at a detention facility in Pearsall, Texas, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement database.
Wright has lived in the United States for more than two decades. His father, Jim Wright, said the family moved frequently due to his work before settling in the U.S. when Curtis was a teenager. The family entered the country in 1998 on visas and became lawful permanent residents in 2001.
“He’s a permanent resident of the U.S.,” Jim Wright said. “They’ve renewed his green card twice.”
The family says immigration officials told them Wright is being held because of a misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance charge from when he was 17 years old. He also has two other misdemeanor charges on his record.
“That charge was adjudicated when he was a young teenager, 22 years ago,” Jim Wright said. “Now, if it has to be satisfied again in the immigration courts versus the criminal courts, I accept that. But you don’t incarcerate him and put him behind bars for four months while you’re waiting on that.”
According to his father, Wright was categorized as a “visiting alien” when he re-entered the country, making him ineligible for bond.
Before the Mexico trip, Wright had previously traveled to Canada without issue, his family said.
He is engaged to Thomsen and has three children, all born in the United States. The couple shares an 18-month-old daughter.
“She wakes up every morning saying ‘da-da,’ because it would be him going to get her,” Thomsen said. “We’re all devastated.”
Curtis Wright has been in ICE detention since November 2025. His family says he’s a legal permanent resident. Wright is with his two boys, from a previous relationship, his fiancée Kayla and daughter. (Family photo)
Legal challenge underway
In January, Wright’s attorneys filed a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that his continued detention violates his constitutional rights, that he was not given due process and that he is not a flight risk.
“And you also wonder why they’re challenging his immigration status now,” Jim Wright said, “when they’ve renewed it twice and didn’t challenge it at any time in the last 22 years.”
Thomsen described the emotional toll of waiting.
“It’s mental torture,” she said. “Every day we think, today could be the day that he gets to come home. And at the end of the day, it’s not that day. Then we wake up and hope all over again.”
The family has reached out to elected officials, including State Rep. Sam Harless, who sent a letter to U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw requesting help.
In a statement to KPRC 2, Harless said:
“Mr. Wright has a valid Green Card (Permanent Resident Card) that has been twice renewed since his arrival in the US from Canada many years ago, and his continued detention since last November without a hearing for an extended period seems questionable in the face of his circumstances. We recognize that ICE has a very difficult job to do, but on occasion, it seems that mistakes can be made, and there should be a means to expedite a remedy.”
In his letter to Crenshaw, Harless wrote in part:
“Mr. Wright is the son of parents James and Bonne Wright,” Harless wrote in the letter. “They immigrated from Canada and became naturalized American citizens. Curtis Wright has been in America since 2001, when he was fifteen and he has established himself as a “permanent resident” and has been issued “Green” cards numerous times in the ensuing years.”
Harless noted that Wright’s prior offenses were misdemeanors and not violent felonies.
“We have a good many people living in this country who pose a risk to our citizens,” Harless wrote. “Mr. Wright is not one of them. Please accept my support for your efforts to appeal for an expedited review of his case. An extended detention period could have a tremendously negative impact to his family and his employment.”
The Wright family says Crenshaw’s office contacted the Department of Homeland Security. KPRC 2 reached out to Crenshaw’s office for comment but has not received a response.
Inside detention
When asked what Wright has shared about his time inside the facility, his father responded bluntly: “not pleasant.”
“The conditions are filthy, the food is awful, and it’s just terrible in there,” Jim Wright said.
Despite that, Thomsen says Wright has tried to stay positive, teaching English to other detainees. She says fellow detainees have nicknamed him “Professor.”
“He said, ‘I can’t live like this in here, who can I help?’” Thomsen said.
Wright’s family says they support removing dangerous criminals from the country but believe his detention goes too far.
“We understand getting the bad out,” Thomsen said. “But Curtis is not bad. He’s not a bad man.”
Until he returns home, Thomsen says their daughter will keep waiting at the window and the unopened presents in the corner of their living room will remain untouched.
KPRC 2 News has reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment on Wright’s detention and is awaiting a response.
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