BLUFFTON, S.C. (WSAV) — A Lowcountry woman is awaiting her fate in a North Carolina courtroom next month after being detained and sent to detention centers across the country while on the way home from a vacation.

Maria Jose Leiton says she followed every step when she immigrated from Costa Rica and had no criminal record or issues while she was in the United States.

But she said, just as life began to feel settled, a vacation turned everything upside down.

"The supervising officer came to me, and he told me, 'Maria, you will lose your flight, and I will give you 5 minutes, you can call your boyfriend, he's outside, and you will tell him you are being detained," Leiton said.

Leiton said she had a driver's license, a passport, and paperwork with her at the U.S. Virgin Islands airport, b

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