Two German teens were arrested and deported at Honolulu International Airport after immigration officials deemed their travel plans ‘suspicious’ because they hadn’t booked a hotel.
Maria Lepere, 18, and Charlotte Pohl, 19, were backpacking around the world and had planned to spend five weeks in Honolulu before continuing on to California and Costa Rica.
While they had valid travel authorization through ESTA, immigration officers in Hawaii accused the pair of trying to enter the country to work illegally.
The teens were handcuffed and brought to a detention center, which they later found out was actually a deportation facility.
According to German media, once the teens arrived at the facility, they were strip-searched and subjected to full-body scans. They were also made to wear prison jumpsuits.
Maria and Charlotte were then placed in a holding facility that housed several criminals – including a murderer who had been incarcerated for nearly 20 years – and were forced to sleep in a freezing cold double cell.
Maria later described the ordeal as “a fever dream,” saying they were in total shock and never expected anything to happen to them.
While they were aware of some of the issues happening in the U.S., she said they didn’t think it would affect them since they were from Germany. She admitted they had been “very naive.”
After spending the night in the cold cell, they were woken early the next morning, handcuffed again, and escorted back to the Honolulu airport. From there, they were put on a Hawaiian Airlines flight to Japan and told they would get their passports back upon landing in Tokyo.
Charlotte added that they were also given “interrogation transcripts” that included statements they never made.
She said immigration officers had twisted their words to make it seem like they had admitted to wanting to work illegally in the U.S.
While ESTA allows citizens of certain countries to visit the U.S. for short stays without needing a visa, recent changes to the system meant it’s not enough to let the holder enter the country and that the final decision lies with border authorities and immigration officials.
The German Foreign Office said the teens’ experience should serve as a reminder that having an ESTA doesn’t guarantee entry into the U.S.
In recent months, there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of Europeans traveling to the United States.
In March, Jasmine Mooney, a former Canadian actress, was also detained by immigration officers at the border while trying to obtain a work visa.
