Originally Posted by Pickles
This sounds fishy. How would have the INS, eight years ago, known this person overstayed? There are no reliable exit checks for VWP countries. As a matter of fact, it is only recently that more careful exit checks have been implemented with the US-VISIT program. And even then, it is still spotty.
This actually isn't so far-fetched. Even eight years ago, the airlines generally tried to collect the I-94 departure record and give it to the INS with a date stamp on it. It wasn't reliable only in the sense that quite a few of the forms got misplaced and never made it back, so the absence of a departure record doesn't necessarily mean that the person never left. The presence of a departure record dated too late, though, would definitely be strong evidence that he overstayed.
I will add that I agree it's absolutely ridiculous to treat all minor immigration violators as probable terrorists, which seems to be the current policy. I would further add that it's totally shameful that we hold -anyone- prisoner for 11 hours with nothing to drink, especially someone not convicted of any crime.