by Joseph Gresser
DERBY LINE — A Chilean woman bought tickets for a performance at the Haskell Opera House, entered through the Canadian side of the border-straddling landmark and, when the show was over, left through the American door. On June 29, Maria Paz Gonzalez-Vidal pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Burlington to being an alien to the United States, entering the United States at a place other than as designated by immigration officers.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Doyle sentenced Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal to time served and waived a fine.
Border Patrol Agent Andrew Floriani’s complaint in the case, explained how Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal got into the U.S. and how she was arrested.
Around 10:30 p.m. on June 13, the Swanton Border Patrol dispatcher told agents in Newport that a caller reported that a woman with reddish hair and heavy accent, came to caller’s house on Main Street in Derby Line and knocked on the door. The woman asked directions to the Border Motel.
Border Patrol Agent Greg Bronson went to the area, where he saw a woman matching the description of the knocker sitting along Route 5 just south of the Fish and Game Road, about a mile and a half from the Canadian Border.
When Agent Bronson approached Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal he saw she was holding her phone and a Haskell Free Library and Opera House brochure. She refused to provide any information when Agent Bronson asked for identification, saying he wasn’t near the border and didn’t have to answer questions. Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal told Agent Bronson he lacked the authority to ask for information.
Other agents arrived and tried to speak with her in English and Spanish without success, the woman refused to answer questions. Agent Bronson, based on how near Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal was to the border, the description provided by the caller, and her refusal to answer questions, decided she was probably in the country illegally. He detained her to figure out her immigration status and told her she would be taken to the Newport Border Patrol Station while the matter was being settled.
Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal said she was a legal permanent resident, but was unable to show documents proving her claim. She became agitated and resisted attempts to escort her to Agent Bronson’s cruiser.
With the help of Border Patrol Agent Jared Dunham-Westlund, Agent Bronson tried to handcuff Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal. She continued to pull her arms away from the agents. The affidavit says she was “successfully handcuffed utilizing no more than the force reasonably required to safely handcuff” her. No one was injured.
At the station agents electronically scanned Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal’s fingerprints and submitted them to the Integrated Fingerprint Identification System and the Automated Biometric Identification System databases. They showed she had visited the U.S. several times under a visa waiver program.
Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal first came into the U.S. on July 10, 2014, under the visa waiver. On March 9, 2016, she entered the country at the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, International Airport. December 29, 2025, Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal entered the U.S. from Mexico at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal showed her Chilean passport, and officials at the port of entry determined she had overstayed her visa during her previous visit and refused to allow her into the U.S. under the visa waiver program.
She was able to withdraw her application for admission to the U.S. and flew back to Chile on December 31, 2025.
A search of records showed Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal has no criminal history, but she tried and failed to get a visa twice after flying home on March 24, 2026, and April 13, 2026.
Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal gave Agent Bronson permission to search her bag and in it he found a Chilean passport with her name on it and giving her age as 59.
She waived her Miranda rights and agreed to speak with Acting Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Nathanial Arnold and Agent Bronson. Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal said she first came to the U.S. under the visa waiver program ten years ago and said her husband is a U.S. citizen.
Her husband, Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal said, has been ill for some time, had been given a year to live, but survived his cancer. She said her husband was going to sponsor her, but didn’t have a job or income, so is unable to do currently.
Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal said she has her own business in the U.S. and worked here. She said that when she came through the San Ysidro port of entry it was due to GPS error taking her toward the Mexican Border, where she didn’t want to go. Immigrations officers let Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal fly back to Chile from Houston, Texas.
According to Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal, she left Chile, landing in Panama, then traveled to Montreal. There she took a taxi to an Airbnb. While spending a week in Magog, Quebec, Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal said she looked up places where it would be easy to cross the border into the U.S. and the Haskell popped up on her phone.
Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal said she bought two tickets for the Borderline Players’ performance of Dear Evan Hansen! for Saturday, June 13, one on the Canadian side and one on the American side. She told the agents when you buy a ticket it indicates which side of the line it was purchased on.
She used the Canadian ticket to get in the door on the Canadian side of the house, but once inside proffered the U.S. ticket. Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal said her plan was to reunite with her husband in Utah, and stay with him in the U.S. until his surgery was done.
Surveillance footage showed Ms. Gonzalez-Vidal entering the opera house on the Canadian side and leave into the U.S. It appeared she changed some of her clothing while in the theater.
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