He's glad he's in Canada.' Adopted son of Maine state senator held by ICE in NH for two ...

Federal immigration authorities detained the 28-year-old adopted son of Maine state senator Denise Tepler in New Hampshire this week while he was traveling toward the Canadian border, setting off a swift chain of events that ended with his release to Canada on Friday, bostonglobe.com reported.

Jessie Tepler-Mujambere, who fled violence in Burundi as a teenager and had lived in the United States for over a decade, was pulled over by local police in Colebrook, New Hampshire, on Wednesday, according to family interviews.

The Traffic Stop and the Border

The arrest happened roughly 10 miles from the Canadian border. Tepler-Mujambere was on his way to make a permanent move north after recently securing his Canadian citizenship, and he carried his new Canadian passport with him at the time of the stop, his family said.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the Colebrook Police Department operates under a 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Such federal-local partnerships allow participating local law enforcement officers to question individuals suspected of unlawful presence and hand them over to federal custody.

Those agreements carry starkly different legal realities depending on the state line. While New Hampshire permits local agencies to partner with ICE, neighboring Maine banned 287(g) agreements under a state law that took effect this year.

“I’m very glad that we don’t have 287(g) agreements here in Maine,” Denise Tepler said in an interview with the Portland Press Herald, expressing frustration that local police departments are deployed for immigration enforcement.

A Decade in Maine and a Shift in Status

Tepler-Mujambere arrived in the United States in November 2014 on a visa that expired in May 2015, according to Department of Homeland Security records. In 2015, at age 16, he began living with the Tepler family after meeting Maya Tepler’s older sister, who taught English as a Second Language at a Maine high school with a large population of asylum seekers.

The family legally adopted him when he was 22. For years, he pursued an asylum claim while building a life in the community, working as a case manager and as a direct support professional in a group home for individuals with disabilities.

Immigration attorneys note that for decades, asylum seekers routinely lived and worked in their communities while their applications remained pending. That landscape shifted significantly when stricter enforcement priorities took hold under the second Trump administration, according to the Portland Press Herald.

When Tepler-Mujambere’s work authorization failed to be renewed earlier this year, his family said his hopes of securing permanent legal status in the United States faded. Facing an uncertain future, he chose Canada, where his adoptive father’s family had settled as Holocaust survivors.

Release and Return

Following his arrest on Wednesday, Tepler-Mujambere was held by federal immigration officials for roughly two days. The Department of Homeland Security stated that during his detention, he requested an incentivized departure to Canada.

He's glad he's in Canada.' Adopted son of Maine state senator held by ICE in NH for two ... — Photo: pressherald.com

As of Friday afternoon, he had crossed the border and arrived safely in Canada, where he texted his family to announce his freedom. His sister Maya Tepler described the outcome as a “best-case scenario for a worst-case scenario,” noting that holding a Canadian passport shielded him from potential deportation to Burundi.

State Senator Denise Tepler voiced relief over her son’s release while sharply criticizing the circumstances of his detainment so close to the border, calling it an unnecessary expenditure of public resources.

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“We have a messed-up system,” Senator Tepler told bostonglobe.com. “We need to be able to allow some people who have black skin to emigrate to the United States. I think there’s a real racist element to the enforcement now, and I’m very concerned about it.”

The Department of Homeland Security pushed back forcefully against those assertions. In a statement provided to bostonglobe.com, a DHS spokesperson called any allegations of racial profiling “disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE,” maintaining that enforcement targets individuals based strictly on unlawful presence rather than demographic background.

Colebrook’s police chief did not respond to requests for comment regarding the traffic stop.