i need to ask a question, my friend who is going to orlando in a few weeks did her esta last year, since then she has remembered that she had a caution a few years ago for shoplifting 2 bottles of nail varnish (her son put them under a bag without relising she walked out without paying for them and consequently ended up gettin a caution for shoplifting) she is now scared as they take your fingerprints when going through immigration at orlando, she is very worried if she will be refused entry,and there is only herself with her son who has cancer, this is a surprise trip for him can anyone give me advice to let her know what will happen please. thankyou.

I don't have an answer, but this is not really an Orlando specific question. Maybe the moderator can move this post somewhere where it can get better visibility.

Did they take her fingerprints when she was cautioned by police? I doubt it. I don't even fully understand what the concern is.

The concern seems to be whether the friend going to Orlando is going to be able to enter the US without a visa after having been stopped for shoplifting.

A caution (assuming it was issued in the UK) WILL show up on your Disclosure and if issued for shoplifting is a potentially disqualifying factor from using the US VWP BUT as it is not a conviction does not neccessarily constitute 212(a) ineligibility for a visa. Failure to declare the caution on your ESTA application however is an offense that WILL result in ineligibility and disbarment from the USA.

Failure to declare a caution may catch up with you anytime down the line. I know of an airline captain who failed to declare a caution he received many years previously but was stopped (despite holding a valid C1/D visa and operating dozens of times to the USA under the visa) and subjected to expedited removal proceedings and a 5-year bar after operating a flight to the USA simply because he had failed to disclose the 20-year old caution on his visa application form years previously.

The US Embassy has advised crewmembers who have cautions on their record to carry copies of their Disclosure statements with them to visa interviews and also when traveling to the USA in order to demonstrate that there is no ineligibility. While I am neither an immigration lawyer nor consular officer, I believe this to be very sound advice. Declaration of a potential ineligibility and presentation of evidence to overcome the presumption of ineligibility is the quickest and least painful way to deal with this kind of circumstance.

At the end of the day, it is probably not worth the risk to attempt travel using an ESTA issued via misrepresentation of material facts. 90% of those who do not delcare previous cautions probably slip through undetected but the consequences for the 10% who are caught could have long lasting effects on one's life.

The relevant question on the ESTA is summarized as follows:

However, the fine print (click the help link) on the ESTA application says that other factors are involved in answering this question, and to refer to section 212(a)(2), which states that this moral-turpitude inadmissibility does not apply if:
Assuming petty shoplifting is not punishable by more than a year in prison in the UK, then this exception applies, and as I see it, the correct answer to the ESTA question is "no". So from my point of view, your friend has not misrepresented herself on the ESTA, which would be the worst issue from an immigration standpoint.

However, if your friend decides to apply for a visa rather than try to use the visa-waiver program, it remains very important to disclose the violation, as B747-437B has emphasized. The visa application form asks for more detail than does the ESTA.

You may also consider this link and this link.

In short, although admissibility is at the discretion of the officer at the port of entry, I don't expect your friend to have any problems. It may be worth contacting a US immigration lawyer to make sure your friend has whatever evidence she needs in case the CBP officer brings up the caution.