Originally Posted by
chollie
IIRC, he was in the transit area and his passport had been confiscated. How was he supposed to leave the airport without a passport?
Besides, I believe it was folks from his own embassy that told the Thai authorities to detain him in the first place, and who also told the Thai authorities to continue to detain him when he declined to answer questions without a lawyer present.
If the questioning was above board and the US government agents questioning him weren't violating his rights or doing anything wrong, why didn't they escort him to the embassy and arrange for an attorney to be present during questioning?
Aha, I'm sorry I misunderstood the problem for the passenger I thought he was denied after passing through a passport control and still retained both his passport and was welcome to leave the airport.
I'm assuming it was another department of the government, under DHS or justice, who denied him entry. I'm guessing it never really was their choice if the Thai authorities should detain him or not, except for informal encouragements. It's also not quite clear to me why the Thai authorities decided to detain him, but I know it has happened before when a passport is cancelled, but nothing about that is mentioned in the article.
The embassy could probably verify his identity and verify that it is separate from the person who are on the no-fly list and then help him. I have, as a non-us citizen, always found the US diplomatic corps very helpful and competent. If he could not get to the embassy he is obviously at a great disadvantage.