ssg10

Hi all,

I spent all night waiting at the LA airport for my friend to come out after arriving from japan 7pm. Finally after 14 hours, she got sent back to her country. Very sad. She cried a lot. Even worse, her English is pretty much 0.
Now, does this mean she is in the black list?
Does DHS TRIP filing for redress work for this case?
She has no criminal background. Never overstay. She got in using Visa waiver.
Her first time in US was last month for 10 days. She liked US so she decided to come back less than 30 days for more sightseeing. But, I got a feeling it may get flagged and got sent to secondary inspection.

For sure, this is total mistreatment, which has no base to reject entry and left her hanging dry for 15 hours at the waiting and interview room. I understood it is up to them and their mood, but this is totally ridiculous

Where should I go from here to help her ? DHS TRIP? Complain to senator?

tanja

LA is bad about what you wrote. They most likely thought she came back to marry a US citizent, The time frame was way to short for them. I am so sorry for your friend.
I dont know that you can do anything at all.

GUWonder

She should consider applying for a US visa. While having a US visa doesn't generally guarantee being admissible into the US, it's helpful in some ways even for people who may have otherwise thought about just using the US VWP.

Who paid for her ticket? And what does she do for her profession in Japan (or wherever she lives)?

jphripjah

It's hard to say what happened here without much more details. It seems CBP was not convinced she was a bona fide tourist. Which means they suspected she was an immigrant. I suspect their discussion with her might have addressed the following:

1. What does she do for a living?
2. Does she have a boyfriend/fiance in the US?
3. What ties does she have giving her a compelling reason to return to Japan, like a job, property, family, etc.
4. How long was she planning to stay in the US for and what were her specific plans?
6. where was she going to stay?
7. Did she have an onward ticket?
8. Who paid for her trip?
9. Were the contents of her luggage consistent with her claim to be a tourist, or did she being "immigrant" luggage, like CVs, work clothes, work tools, family heirlooms, etc.
10. What was she going to do on her vacation if she spoke no English?
11. What is her specific relationship with whoever was picking her up, have you guys met in real life or only online?

They don't reject visa waiver candidates without having a pretty good reason.

s0ssos

This is why America sucks.

If you look at Japan's rules, they will permit people to go out to a hotel, understanding that one cannot immediately get back on-board another flight directly out. In America, people don't really have rights. That is, Americans. Apparently America doesn't believe in rights for non-Americans even though they signed international conventions.

User Name

America might "suck" for all kinds of reasons, but this might not be one of them.

No non-US citizen has a right to enter the US (just the same as any other country), so which rights was she denied in your mind?

(For clarification - not saying that the OP's friend didn't go through an uncomfortable and upsetting experience - just questioning what "rights" were violated in the process).

GUWonder

Sometimes the CBP's idea of a "pretty good reason" is but an example of how comfirmation bias and poor reasoning can lead to otherwise admissible persons being denied admission by DHS.

Your question starts out by peddling a false claim, the claim no non-US citizen has a right to enter the US.

The legal fact is that plenty of non-US citizens have a right to enter the US, even as most non-US citizens do not.

s0ssos

So, 14 hours sitting in a room (waiting and interview rooms) is ok? I guess you find that comfortable and reassuring, as opposed to "uncomfortable and upsetting"?

GUWonder

I am no fan of plenty of things that CBP does and tries to get away with doing, but such uncomfortable and upsetting outcomes are the result when US VWP users are deemed inadmissible at US airports of entry.

What does the denied entry traveler do for work outside of the US? How did she pay for her ticket?

s0ssos

But they don't have to. Some airlines try to provide lodging so people don't have to sleep on the floor. Apparently when Air Canada had people sleep on the floor there was a big uproar. So I guess for Americans and Canadians it is a "right" to sleep on a comfortable surface.

I would say keeping someone in a room for 14 hours isn't humane. But I guess that's for another forum.

s0ssos

For OP, there really isn't much recourse in America. People had to sue to even figure out why they were on the no-fly list (technically they didn't know they were on the list, because the government would never tell them, except they could never get on a plane). I think one lawsuit finally went forward.

Oh yeah, lawsuit. Or have connections high-up.

GUWonder

Curious, but am I going to get an answer to these questions:

?

When it comes to visa waiver program negotiations, countries don't seem to care that much about maximizing the interests and welfare even of their own nationals when attempting to use a visa waiver type program.

JDiver

If you look at how Japan actually treats visitors, they also reject certain visitors. United Kingdom, ditto - check the "penalty boxes" at international arrivals at LHR, say, for a look at that.

Travelers must do some research to determine if they will meet the admission requirements of countries they seek to visit, meet the admission criteria fairly unequivocally or face denial. My niece, for example, spent four hours at DEL earlier this year because she failed to perform due diligence (and BA probably was fined for not checking and carrying her there, and had to boot a paying passenger on their outbound flight to accommodate her for free). She thought that sucked - and lost a significant amount of money for a trip in vain and missed meetings she had scheduled - but it was entirely on her for failing to meet published legal criteria India has of visitors.

These issues are legitimated by international treaties and the right of sovereign nations to determine the conditions under which visitors and migrants will be allowed, whether one thinks that sucks or not.

It may be this young woman was improperly denied visitation to the USA, but it may equally be that she was found lacking in meeting various published legal criteria for admission to the USA.

GUWonder

Most rejections at DEL of EU and US citizens don't involve the carrier being fined. Was the niece a Mexican passport user at DEL?

And a lot of rejections at US airports of VWP citizens also result in no fines being charged by the USG.

No matter how much research someone does and no matter how certain the legal grounds for admissibility, shenanigans and other problems that frustrate admission at ports of entry remain possible. Some countries just have more fickle border control personnel at airports or entry than other countries -- and in this regard of fickle and flip immigration control at airports of entry, the US is amongst the worst, albeit not entirely alone, when it comes to those using a visa waiver program to seek admission into an OECD country with nominal per capita income in USD of $20,000+.

Often1

Npbody here including, apparently, OP knows why her friend was actually returned to Japan (was she actually deported?) So, without facts the standard wild accusations and generalizations are both silly and meaningless.

The fact is that Japan also subjects some individuals to the same level of detention (the turn around time of 14 hours is largely dictated by the availability of an outbound flight). Whether this matter has to do with a failure of documentation (where the carrier may be penalized) or simply a rejection of the properly-documented passenger is also unknown.

Bottom line is that even the OP doesn't know why her friend was not admitted and before suggesting that it was "horrible" ought to gather the facts. As others suggest, the best practice now would be for the friend to apply for a visa.

While the determination of admissibility is not final until the CBP checkpoint, the practical reality is that if the friend obtains a proper visa and is truthful in all respects in that application, the likelihood of being inadmissible is fairly low.

Will this incident affect future admissions? There is no way to tell because we do not know why it occurred.