HOUSTON \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when he landed at Bush, they pulled him aside for a second screening,\u201d said his fianc\u00e9e, Kayla Thomsen. \u201cA 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\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wright is currently being held at a detention facility in Pearsall, Texas, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement database.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a permanent resident of the U.S.,\u201d Jim Wright said. \u201cThey\u2019ve renewed his green card twice.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat charge was adjudicated when he was a young teenager, 22 years ago,\u201d Jim Wright said. \u201cNow, if it has to be satisfied again in the immigration courts versus the criminal courts, I accept that. But you don\u2019t incarcerate him and put him behind bars for four months while you\u2019re waiting on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to his father, Wright was categorized as a \u201cvisiting alien\u201d when he re-entered the country, making him ineligible for bond.<\/p>\n
Before the Mexico trip, Wright had previously traveled to Canada without issue, his family said.<\/p>\n
He is engaged to Thomsen and has three children, all born in the United States. The couple shares an 18-month-old daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wakes up every morning saying \u2018da-da,\u2019 because it would be him going to get her,\u201d Thomsen said. \u201cWe\u2019re all devastated.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 fianc\u00e9e Kayla and daughter. (Family photo)<\/p>\n
Legal challenge underway<\/p>\n
In January, Wright\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you also wonder why they\u2019re challenging his immigration status now,\u201d Jim Wright said, \u201cwhen they\u2019ve renewed it twice and didn\u2019t challenge it at any time in the last 22 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomsen described the emotional toll of waiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s mental torture,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery day we think, today could be the day that he gets to come home. And at the end of the day, it\u2019s not that day. Then we wake up and hope all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In a statement to KPRC 2, Harless said:<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his letter to Crenshaw, Harless wrote in part:<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Wright is the son of parents James and Bonne Wright,\u201d Harless wrote in the letter. \u201cThey 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 \u201cpermanent resident\u201d and has been issued \u201cGreen\u201d cards numerous times in the ensuing years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harless noted that Wright\u2019s prior offenses were misdemeanors and not violent felonies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a good many people living in this country who pose a risk to our citizens,\u201d Harless wrote. \u201cMr. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wright family says Crenshaw\u2019s office contacted the Department of Homeland Security. KPRC 2 reached out to Crenshaw\u2019s office for comment but has not received a response.<\/p>\n
Inside detention<\/p>\n
When asked what Wright has shared about his time inside the facility, his father responded bluntly: \u201cnot pleasant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conditions are filthy, the food is awful, and it\u2019s just terrible in there,\u201d Jim Wright said.<\/p>\n
Despite that, Thomsen says Wright has tried to stay positive, teaching English to other detainees. She says fellow detainees have nicknamed him \u201cProfessor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018I can\u2019t live like this in here, who can I help?\u2019\u201d Thomsen said.<\/p>\n
Wright\u2019s family says they support removing dangerous criminals from the country but believe his detention goes too far.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand getting the bad out,\u201d Thomsen said. \u201cBut Curtis is not bad. He\u2019s not a bad man.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
KPRC 2 News has reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment on Wright\u2019s detention and is awaiting a response.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 A Houston-area family says they are running out of answers and patience as they fight to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[73645,56,58,57,15813,32386,73643,73644],"class_list":{"0":"post-184039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-detention-conditions","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-headlines","11":"tag-houston-news","12":"tag-ice-detention","13":"tag-immigration-and-custom-enforcement","14":"tag-immigration-detention-conditions","15":"tag-pearsall-texas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}