There’s a story that’s going viral about two German teenagers who entered the United States to go backpacking, only to be handcuffed, strip searched, jailed, and then deported the next day.
Of course in recent times there has been lots of talk of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. While I have a lot of criticisms of Trump, this is something that his administration can’t be blamed for, in my opinion. Nonetheless, I think this story has some important reminders for travelers.
German teenagers face scrutiny at border in Hawaii
This story was first reported in Germany’s Ostsee-Zeitung a couple of weeks ago, and then ended up being picked up by Beat of Hawaii. However, the travelers have now also shared their story directly on Reddit. Below is their version of events, and then in the next section, I’ll share my take…
“Please be careful – we were deported from the U.S. for just wanting to backpack”
“I want to share what happened to me and my best friend last month when we tried to begin our backpacking trip in the U.S. Maybe it helps someone avoid the same nightmare.”
“We are 19 and 18 years old, from Europe, and we arrived in Honolulu from New Zealand, with the plan to explore the islands first, and then fly to the mainland after to explore California. We had booked only the first 2 nights in an Airbnb, just to be flexible with our plans – like we did in New Zealand, and like many backpackers do. We had the onward ticket to the next destination in Asia but didn’t book domestic flights in the U.S. for the same reason.”
“At passport control they took us aside for ‘additional questions.’ At first we didn’t think it was such a big thing, but then it became very intense. They were asking us why we didn’t book more nights or domestic flights, what our plans were, how we can afford to travel, and especially about work. We do sometimes small freelance jobs online (like translating or design stuff, for customers back in Germany and sometimes also Asia, not the U.S.), and we mentioned that – which was maybe the biggest mistake. It was also in the e-mails that they accessed.”
“After a while they told us we are not allowed to enter the U.S., that we are ‘inadmissible.’ They said we were trying to work illegally, which we didn’t. We had onwards tickets and just wanted to travel.”
“But they didn’t care. They took our phones, our passports, and put us in handcuffs – that moment was surreal. Like, you’re a tourist and now you’re treated like criminal. They wanted to send us back to Auckland on the next flight, but we asked to rebook our onwards tickets for the day after, so we could continue with our travels. They agreed but said that we will be detained for the night. We agreed, having no idea what to expect, thinking that we would maybe wait in the same room that they interviewed us. But no.”
“They drove us to the detention center in Honolulu. I think it was called FDC prison, close to the airport. It was a real jail. Metal doors, locked cells, cold air. And they made us do a full strip search. It was really cold. We had to undress completely, including bra and underwear, and even had to squat and spread… I don’t want to describe it in too much detail, but it was humiliating and scary. We were alone with a female officer, but still… you don’t expect that as a tourist.”
“After that they gave us green prison clothes and put us in a cell overnight with two other women – who were actually bragging to us about their cartel connections and implying that they were serious criminals. It felt like a movie, but not a nice one. Of course we didn’t not sleep even for a minute. I’m not picky, but the food was another horror story.”
“The next day they stripped us down again, we changed back into our clothes, and they took us straight to our plane – two officers returned our passports and escorted us to our seats as the door was about to close. Just like that. They also told us that if we want to come to the U.S. again, we cannot use a visa free system anymore.”
“So yeah… please be very careful if you plan to backpack in the U.S. Book all your accommodation in advance (even if you plan to change later). There are many fully refundable options – and we thought about it, but decided that it wouldn’t be necessary. And don’t mention any remote work or freelancing and make sure to log out of any e-mails that could be used as evidence of it. And know that if something goes wrong, it’s not just ‘denied entry’ – it’s jail, strip search, and total loss of control.”
“We are still totally shaken from it and feel like we did something wrong, even if we didn’t mean to. Just wanted to share, because I would have never imagined this could happen. My feeling is that backpacking culture isn’t understood or accepted at U.S. borders right now. Be careful!”
What a scary and frustrating travel experience
As I see it, there are two main issues at play here — the travelers being denied entry, and how they were treated while they were awaiting their deportation.
Regarding being denied entry, unfortunately I can’t say that I’m surprised:
- A lot of immigration officers do view it as suspicious if you don’t have hotels booked, and can’t prove that you have the funds for the duration of your stay (and they were planning on spending weeks in the United States)
- Their admission of that caused them to be investigated more closely, and then it was determined that they planned to do some freelance work while visiting the country
I think immigration rules around remote work are sometimes so dumb (and don’t really reflect the times), but just don’t admit it, or avoid being in a situation where you’re even asked about that. Of course they had no bad intentions, but this is hardly unique to the United States, or to any new Trump policy. I can’t count the number of episodes of “Border Security: Australia’s Front Line” that I’ve seen, where travelers are denied entry for similar reasons.
Now, the part of this story that surprises me is how they were detained, as they were transported to a local jail, and had to spend the night there. This is far from my area of expertise, but I was under the impression that people are typically held in airport cells when they await deportation in situations like this, when there was no criminal intent.
It sounds like the pair had asked to be deported to Japan rather than New Zealand. So was the transport to the jail simply because of how much time they were spending on the ground prior to the next flight, or what? Perhaps the added lesson there is that if they requested to be deported on a particular flight, it would’ve made sense to ask about where they’d be held, how long the wait would be, etc.
All-in-all, this story just makes me sad. You have two young adults who are just trying to explore the world and mean no harm to others, yet they end up in a situation where they’re being strip searched in a jail. Of course I understand that countries have to enforce their immigration laws and often don’t have much flexibility. But still, the end result is just a reminder of how travel can have its challenges.
Bottom line
Two German backpackers had an unpleasant experience trying to enter the United States. Immigration officials became suspicious when the pair only had accommodations booked for two nights, despite planning on staying in the country for weeks.
When one of the friends mentioned she also does some freelance work to support herself, immigration officers decided that violated the terms of their tourist visa, so the decision was made to deport them. The situation got much worse when the pair were handcuffed and transported to a local jail, where they were strip searched, and had to spend the night there.
I think there are a lot of lessons here, especially for young travelers, so always have your guard up at immigration, and be ready.
What do you make of this story of denied entry to the US?
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