The coast of White Rock, British Columbia, in western Canada looks to be an ideal place for a run, with its sweeping views of the Semiahmoo Bay to the west and scores of waterfront homes and seafood restaurants to the east. That's what 19-year-old Cedella Roman thought when she went jogging along the area's smooth beaches - in a southbound direction, notably - on May 21.
Roman, who lives in France, had been visiting her mother in nearby North Delta, British Columbia. During her run, she was admiring the scenery when she unwittingly crossed the border from Canada into the United States, Roman told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
The demarcation line between the two countries, it turns out, is only about three miles down the coast from White Rock's popular wooden pier.
Roman told CBC News she hadn't seen any signs indicating she was about to cross into the United States but that two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers approached her shortly after she accidentally left Canada.
"An officer stopped me and started telling me I had crossed the border illegally," Roman told the news site. "I told him I had not done it on purpose, and that I didn't understand what was happening."
A map provided by CNN indicates that Roman would have crossed the border near the Peace Arch, a white marble monument that was erected in 1921 as "the world's first monument dedicated to Peace." The arch straddles the U.S.-Canada border and is inscribed with the words "CHILDREN OF A COMMON MOTHER" on one side and "BRETHREN DWELLING TOGETHER IN UNITY" on the other, meant to celebrate the friendship between the two North American countries.
Roman - who was not carrying any identification or proof of citizenship with her during her jog - told CBC News she thought the Border Patrol officers might simply let her go with a warning.
That was not to be the case, according to U.S. immigration officials, who confirmed the subsequent events in an email to The Washington Post.
Instead, the Border Patrol arrested Roman on May 21, "processed her as an expedited removal," then transferred her to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to ICE spokesperson Carissa Cutrell.
On May 22, Roman was taken to ICE's Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, about 140 miles south of the border point where she had been arrested. She remained detained until June 5 when, after two weeks of paperwork and processing, Roman was taken back to the border "and removed to Canada," Cutrell said.