In a quiet, leafy suburb of Toronto, a 30-year-old Afghan woman spends most afternoons on the phone, hoping she can reach her two younger siblings and father.
They are not in Afghanistan, but instead just miles away, across the border in the US, held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention. The three have been there in crowded cells for months, stuck in what their lawyers say is a bureaucratic limbo between Canada and the US.
They are eligible for asylum in Canada because they have immediate relatives who are legal refugees in the country, but can only file their claim at the land border - and US officials insist that they will only be released if they enter Canada by air, which they can't do without a visa, their US lawyer told the BBC.
That visa application is currently under review and they remain stuck, currently unable to make a claim in Canada and facing deportation from the US.
From her home near Toronto, Asal says she has tried everything to get them released. The BBC is using an alias because her family belongs to an ethnic and religious minority group facing persecution in Afghanistan.
She has hired attorneys in both countries to press their case and even offered to cover the costs of ICE agents escorting them to the Canada-US border, to no avail.
The family's case illustrates how some asylum seekers have been caught in rapidly changing policies under the Trump administration, their lawyers and experts say. It also raises questions about whether Canada has a responsibility to expedite entry for people in ICE detention who have ties to that country.
In the meantime, Asal's family members could be sent back to Afghanistan or a third country not of their choosing – the scariest move of all, argues their American lawyer Jodi Goodwin. That option puts them at risk of being sent to God knows where, with no assurances of protection, she said.
The father had worked with US troops as a contractor, Asal said, making him a potential target for the Taliban if deported back to Afghanistan.
The first part of the family, which included Asal and two siblings, arrived in Canada in February 2023, she told the BBC. It was their preferred destination after reluctantly fleeing Afghanistan as violence rapidly escalated after the Taliban took over.
Asal speaks with her detained family when she can. ICE allows online visitations, and she often gets through to her 18-year-old sister.
On a recent call, made using an iPad that she shares with around 80 other cellmates, her sister offered details of her daily life - her struggle to get a good night's rest, her habit of doing the laundry just to keep busy - before she bursts into tears.
Ms Goodwin says an official told her they just didn't get to their paperwork in time for the family to be released along with the others.
But for the time being, Asal and her family continue to agonize about the case, wishing for a reunion and hoping that Canadian officials will act to help them escape this nightmare.
