New Brunswick premier assails detention of Wabanaki elder’s fiancee at Maine border

By Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli, The County Staff

New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt is speaking out against the recent detention of a Bangor-born Wabanaki elder’s Canadian fiancee at the U.S. border ports of entry in Houlton and Calais.

“It’s completely unacceptable that anyone would face this kind of discrimination at the border,” Holt told the Bangor Daily News. 

David Slagger, 63, a member of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and Woodstock First Nation in New Brunswick, accused officials at the Houlton and Calais border crossings of disrespecting tribal items and handcuffing his fiancee while she was crossing into the U.S. last week to visit him at his Monson home. He said it happened during multiple crossings.

“Yesterday my fiancee, Angela Daigle from Saint John, who has a valid passport, was handcuffed and detained for having too many clothes for a two week stay while I recuperate from back surgery,” Slagger wrote in a letter to Holt, who has since called him to discuss the matter. 

Holt, who said she was deeply disturbed to hear from Slagger about Daigle’s detainment by customs officials, shared her concerns in a letter to Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to Canada. She also copied the letter to Canadian government officials including recently elected Prime Minister Mark Carney. 

In her letter, Holt said New Brunswick and Maine share a long tradition of close familial, cultural and economic ties across the border. 

Preserving respectful and predictable interactions at these crossings is essential to maintaining a trusting relationship between the two countries, she said. 

The fact that Holt has taken up Daigle’s concerns shows how the frustration that many Canadians feel toward the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and trade war rhetoric is increasingly reaching into higher ranks of the nation’s government. 

In recent months, tourist travel into Maine from New Brunswick has dropped significantly. In July, Calais land crossings were down about 26 percent, from 123,000 in July 2024 to 90,000 in July 2025, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data. The Houlton crossing was down 31 percent during the same time, from 54,000 to 36,000.

Holt said earlier this summer in a meeting with Maine’s Gov. Janet Mills that the decline will continue because New Brunswickers do not feel safe, amid a larger crackdown on immigration by the Trump administration.

In interviews with the BDN, Daigle and Slagger both said that they no longer feel safe in the U.S., and that they have been traumatized by crossing the border from Canada.

Previously, Daigle crossed to visit Slagger many times without incident, but when she attempted to cross into the U.S. last week at the Calais station, she alleged that the border agents did not believe that she was visiting because her vehicle was filled with clothes. 

“I explained that I was visiting my fiancee for two weeks,” she said. “A female agent thought I was playing stupid and started yelling at me.”

While detained in Calais, Daigle was fingerprinted and the female agent made her sign a document that she did not see or get a copy of, she said. 

The next day, when she tried to cross the border at Houlton, she said she was handcuffed to a bench for several hours before she returned to Canada. 

“I had never been through anything like this before and I was so scared,” she said. 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Ryan Brissette said that Daigle recently had encounters with officials at the ports of Calais and Houlton, while she was traveling alone.  

“During a routine secondary inspection, it was determined that Ms. Daigle was transporting personal belongings to the United States with the intent of permanently relocating,” Brissette said. “CBP officers confirmed that Ms. Daigle is a Canadian citizen, not a U.S. citizen or Legal Permanent Resident, and does not qualify for North American Indian status. Additionally, she did not possess the required visa to establish a permanent residence in the United States.”

Both Daigle and Slagger said that Daigle never intended to seek permanent residence in the U.S. and told the border agents repeatedly that she was visiting Slagger for two weeks. 

The BDN subsequently asked Brissette how agents determined that Daigle was seeking permanent residence in the U.S., given that she told them she was only visiting. 

He said on Monday that he would look into the matter. 

According to U.S. customs law, Canadian citizens can enter the U.S. with a valid passport and enhanced driver’s license for up to six months. Daigle said she presented the required documents to border agents at both crossings. 

The law does not appear to have any obvious limits on the amount of personal clothing a person can transport in their vehicle while visiting the U.S., according to customs information. 

In Holt’s letter to the U.S. ambassador to Canada and copied to her country’s prime minister, she said she was calling attention to recent reports from New Brunswick residents concerning their treatment at the Houlton-Woodstock and Calais-St. Stephen border crossings. 

“Media coverage in both New Brunswick and Maine have described detentions and other actions that appear disproportionate and intimidating,” Holt wrote. “I wanted to share these recent developments directly with you. I spoke with one of the individuals involved this morning and was struck by how deeply distressing the experience has been for them.”

Holt mentioned in her letter a July discussion with Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, in which he said he wanted to know if New Brunswickers faced difficulties at the border. 

“My office has raised these concerns with the Government of Canada, and I trust they will also

be of interest to you as we continue working together to ensure safe and positive cross-border

movement for all citizens,” she said.

This past weekend Slagger — who argued that has also been repeatedly disrespected at the U.S. border crossings — went into Canada to bring Daigle back to his Maine home. 

They were both detained at the Calais border for an hour. She was fingerprinted again and photographed. Eventually, border agents gave Daigle what they called a permission slip to stay in the U.S. for two weeks. 

It was an I-94 form giving her permission to remain in the U.S. until Sept. 10. 

The couple questioned why she has been treated differently from other Canadian citizens who can pass through the border without incident and not be limited to a 2-week stay. 

“It’s fear mongering,” Slagger said. 

Slagger and Daigle are currently looking at homes to purchase in New Brunswick while Slagger prepares to sell his Monson property and leave the U.S. permanently. 

“It is such a beautiful setting,” he said about his Maine property. “But I cannot live in fear.”