Canadian woman dies after avoiding medical care over deportation fears, son says

Paige Adamson, 61, faced a deportation hearing over an allegation she voted illegally in 2018, which she denied

By LineZotpaper AI staff

Published28 October 2026

Read Time3 min

A Canadian woman with permanent US legal residency died in her western Washington home after avoiding medical care because she feared being detained or deported, her son said. Paige Adamson, 61, died Oct. 18 of internal bleeding and blunt force injuries from a fall, according to Dylan Adamson, who said she was facing a deportation hearing over allegations that she voted illegally in 2018, which she denied.

Adamson fractured her right femur after tripping over a vacuum and suffered acute blood loss, her son said, but was afraid to seek treatment. “She was in so much pain…she was extremely ill. She was throwing up,” Dylan Adamson said. “My mom’s a good person and she didn’t deserve any of this.” The Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office declared the death an accident.

Adamson had lived in Point Roberts for 14 years. The roughly five-square-mile exclave is connected by land only to Canada, so residents must cross the border twice and drive through Canada to reach Blaine, the nearest US city on the mainland. With midterm election season underway, she became entangled in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts, which have recently focused on voter fraud allegations.

Immigration attorney Len Saunders, who advised Adamson, said she was flagged by the US Department of Homeland Security in September. On Sept. 15, on her drive home from a birthday dinner, she was questioned for hours by a US Customs and Border Protection officer and given notice to appear at a deportation hearing set for November. She was accused of illegally registering to vote and voting in the 2018 general election.

Saunders said it is not unusual for green card holders to discover they have been erroneously registered to vote, often as an administrative mistake connected to obtaining a state ID or driver’s license, and that such cases were once corrected without issue. “They have a right to do that but is it the right thing to do? I don’t think so. These are people who made an innocent mistake,” he said. He said he has recently heard from dozens of people facing or fearing serious scrutiny, including a nurse from Blaine and an autistic man from Birch Bay. The Washington Secretary of State’s office did not immediately provide comment.

Dylan Adamson said his mother was a single mother who raised him and his brother in British Columbia before moving to Point Roberts, where she married an American man and settled. He suggested she move back to Canada after being questioned, but she refused, saying Point Roberts was her home. “Absolutely unnecessary,” he said of her death. “For a technicality, my mom dies? It’s absolutely wrong.”

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Analysis

Why This Matters

The case illustrates how fear of immigration enforcement can deter even legal residents from seeking medical care, with fatal consequences.
It highlights the human impact of treating voter registration errors as grounds for deportation, an issue immigration lawyers say is often an administrative mistake.
Point Roberts’ isolation, where accessing US healthcare requires crossing into Canada and back, compounded the risk for residents like Adamson.

Background

Point Roberts is a small US exclave connected by land only to Canada, so residents who need to reach the mainland US must pass through two border crossings, making immigration status checks a routine part of local life. Under US law, permanent residents can be placed in removal proceedings for certain violations, and the current administration has focused enforcement on allegations of voter fraud. Green card holders who are erroneously registered to vote have sometimes discovered the issue only when it drew official attention.

Key Perspectives

Dylan Adamson: says his mother’s death was “absolutely unnecessary” and that she insisted Point Roberts was her home. Len Saunders: says the allegation appears to stem from an innocent administrative mistake, that “there’s no discretion” in the current proceedings, and that many others now face similar scrutiny. Paige Adamson: denied the accusation that she illegally registered to vote and voted in 2018.

What to Watch

Whether the November deportation hearing proceeds now that Adamson has died.
Whether the Washington Secretary of State’s office responds on how she came to be registered to vote.
Whether the other cases Saunders described, including the nurse from Blaine and the autistic man from Birch Bay, draw further scrutiny.

Sources

'An innocent mistake.' Canadian woman dies in border town amid deportation fears in WA voter fraud case · KUOW

Checked

12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 11 supported.

Show each claim

SupportedThe headline says the woman died after avoiding medical care because she feared deportation, according to her son.KUOW: “She had avoided seeking medical attention due to fears she could be detained or deported.”
SupportedPaige Adamson was 61.KUOW: “Paige Adamson, 61, died Oct. 18”
Partly supportedAdamson was facing a deportation hearing over allegations that she voted illegally in 2018, which she denied; the story’s opening attributes this account to her son.KUOW: “Paige Adamson was accused of illegally registering to vote and voting in the general election in 2018, which she denied, Saunders said.”
SupportedAdamson had permanent legal residency in the United States.KUOW: “The woman had permanent legal residency in the U.S.”
SupportedAdamson died on Oct. 18 from internal bleeding and blunt force injuries related to a fall, according to her son.KUOW: “Paige Adamson, 61, died Oct. 18 of internal bleeding and blunt force injuries related to a fall, Dylan Adamson said.”
SupportedDylan Adamson said, “She was in so much pain…she was extremely ill. She was throwing up.”KUOW: ““She was in so much pain…she was extremely ill. She was throwing up,” Dylan Adamson said.”
SupportedDylan Adamson said, “My mom’s a good person and she didn’t deserve any of this.”KUOW: ““My mom’s a good person and she didn’t deserve any of this.””
SupportedThe Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office declared Adamson’s death an accident.KUOW: “The Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office declared her death an accident.”
SupportedLen Saunders said Adamson was flagged by the Department of Homeland Security in September.KUOW: “Len Saunders, an immigration attorney who advised Paige Adamson about her case, said she felt trapped in Point Roberts after she was flagged by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in September.”
SupportedOn Sept. 15, Adamson was questioned for hours on her drive home from a birthday dinner and given notice to appear at a deportation hearing set for November.KUOW: “The woman was questioned for hours by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer on her drive home after her birthday dinner on Sept. 15, then given a notice to appear at a deportation hearing set for November.”
SupportedSaunders said, “They have a right to do that but is it the right thing to do? I don’t think so. These are people who made an innocent mistake.”KUOW: ““They have a right to do that but is it the right thing to do? I don’t think so. These are people who made an innocent mistake.””
SupportedDylan Adamson said of his mother’s death, “Absolutely unnecessary,” and said, “For a technicality, my mom dies? It’s absolutely wrong.”KUOW: ““Absolutely unnecessary,” Dylan said of her death. “For a technicality, my mom dies? It’s absolutely wrong.””