SEATTLE — Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand national and mother of three, believed she had done everything right.

She had checked her documents, confirmed her visa status, and felt confident she could make a quick trip across the Canadian border to drop off her two older children at Vancouver International Airport for a flight to New Zealand, where they would visit their grandparents.

She brought her youngest son, 6-year-old Isaac, along for the drive. The crossing into Canada went smoothly. The return to Everett did not.

“I thought we had crossed every ‘T’ and dotted every ‘I,’” said Victoria Besancon, a close friend of Shaw. “Sarah had been waiting on some travel documents to be approved. But once her visa and her children’s visas were cleared, she felt comfortable taking them to Canada. We a

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