Two young German travelers expected their Hawaii trip to be the highlight of a months-long world adventure. Instead, their visit ended in handcuffs, jail time, and deportation — a stark reminder of the risks some international visitors face at U.S. borders.
[...]
Charlotte Pohl, 19, and Maria Lepere, 18, arrived in Honolulu from Auckland with plans to explore Hawaii before continuing to California and Costa Rica. However, their flexible travel style — including a lack of pre-booked lodging for their planned five-week Hawaii stay — raised red flags for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Beat of Hawaii
What doesn't?
Despite having ESTA travel authorization, the two were accused of potential illegal work intentions, a common concern for border officials screening young travelers without fixed plans.
You mean like when Elon Musk came?
The travelers described their detention experience as shocking and surreal.
Welcome to 2025 in America.
After hours of questioning at Honolulu Airport, they said they were placed in handcuffs, loaded into a transport vehicle, and brought to what they later learned was a deportation detention facility.
There, they reported being subjected to full-body scans, strip searches, and issued green prison uniforms. They were placed in a holding cell overnight alongside long-term detainees, including individuals accused of serious crimes.
Conditions described included sleeping on thin, moldy mattresses, using rudimentary toilets, and being warned by guards to avoid expired food.
The following morning, the travelers were escorted back to Honolulu Airport in handcuffs and deported — not to Germany, but to Japan, at their request, avoiding a longer return trip to New Zealand.
[...]
United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has tried to ease concerns of European travelers wanting to visit the USA by saying, “If you’re not coming to the United States to join a Hamas protest, or to come here and tell us about how right Hamas is, or…stir up conflict on our campuses and create riots in our streets and vandalize our universities, then you have nothing to worry about.”
Tell that to Charlotte and Maria.
No comments:
Post a Comment