U.S. lawyer says Dawn Walker likely has 'years of legal issues ahead'

It is going to be a tough legal road ahead for a Saskatchewan woman who is accused of illegally crossing the US border with her child.

Dawn Walker and her child were reported missing on July 24. They were found on Aug. 5 in Oregon City, Oregon.

She now faces charges in the U.S. of aggravated identity theft and possession of false documents.

“These are the equivalent of what's called an indictable offence in Canada,” U.S. immigration lawyer Len Saunders told CTV News.

“So these are not just simple misdemeanour summary charges. These are serious felony offences.”

Saunders said Walker is facing trouble on many grounds.

“She has federal criminal charges. Then after the criminal charges are dealt with by the US government, she'll then have immigration charges for false entry into the United States. And then when she does eventually leave the US, I'm assuming the government is going to want to extradite her to Canada. She’s going to face, I believe, criminal charges in Canada for obtaining false Canadian passports. So I think she has, you know, years of legal issues ahead of her now.”

Saunders said Walker is likely looking at months in custody in the US before she’ll be returned to Canada.

“This is going to be a long road.”

For the aggravated identity theft charges in the US, Walker could face two years of jail time but Saunders said her defence could plead time served to reduce the sentence.

He also said she will have trouble if she ever hopes to return to the U.S.

“I think what's going to happen long term is she's going to have years of not being able to re-enter the United States. Canadians who have criminal convictions, whether in Canada or the United States, quite often need waivers to enter the US in the future," he said.

"So once these charges are finally dealt with, assuming that she's found guilty or pleads guilty, she's then going to basically go up to Canada and have to spend years in Canada before she's deemed rehabilitated to come back into the United States.

"You know, some people try to sneak in but her criminal activities from what I can read in the criminal charges, it seems like a very sophisticated plan,” Saunders said.

“A lot of planning went into what she is charged with committing."