91–100 of 257 posts
If she is on a "four-month backpacking trip around North America" and tried to return to the US, she has exceeded the 90-day limit allowed by the Visa Waiver Program (which counts days both in the US and "adjacent territories") and is now an illegal overstayer. The unpaid labor stuff and getting refused entry to Canada is icing on the cake. For the record, I'm no fan of ICE/CBP, but it looks like they're just enforci…
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I'm not convinced it's the Americans responsibility to get her back to a suitable international airport as quickly as possible and put her in the next flight out. 10 days does seem excessive, but I don't see why she should be a priority either. I would imagine up to 5 working days fits within the realm of 'reasonable'.
Yeah, what's habeas corpus.
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I've never had anything to do with foreign exchange students, but are they absolutely prohibited from work of any kind? If there is ambiguity, then we can't have them here.
In the US, it's very clear. If they don't have work authorization from USCIS, they shouldn't be doing work. There's some guidelines out there on the internet [1], but the students should be extremely careful; any form of compensation or expectation of future compensation for their work could put them in serious trouble. The University of Michigan has a more fleshed out guideline page for their international students…
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Dictating they buy one of the most expensive flights (one of the immediate ones taking off that day) probably isn't a great look either. Like so much else with law enforcement, they look like shit because of the system and incentives set up. Some do it themselves and are malicious for no good reason, but not literally every time.
You don't get a free flight. Typically either your return ticket is moved if possible, or the airline will claim the cost from you. There's a number of regulations and airline rules, but in general - unless the airline messed up checks at boarding, you're getting charged for the flight back.
Generally I'd expect a deportation process to take quite some time because immigration courts have not been properly staffed. But I would have expected ICE to offer either a withdrawal of application, or voluntary deportation, both of which involve travel arrangements at the alien's expense in order to expedite removal. I think it's probably in the person's better interest to pay for a ticket home (hopefully with some credit for their previously scheduled flight) if they were planning on returning home anyway; better to go home early than sit out your trip in immigration detention.
A similar story about Ice detaining a German tourist in California indefinitely. Jessica Brösche has spent more than a month in detention center after being denied entry at San Diego from Mexico. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/03/ice-german-t...
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She was not detained by Canada's border service.
Canada's border service sent her back to the US. At that point, the US can't exactly tell her to go back to Canada, and have her walk back and forth until the problem solves itself. Immigration detention pending a return to the country of origin seems reasonable at that point. 10 days of detention to figure out transportation to the country of origin doesn't seem reasonable though.
God I had a memory of Lemmings pop up. Thank you for that, it made me smile.
Probably shouldn't tell border patrol you're doing unpaid labor in a country you're visiting. When speaking to authorities it's best to say the absolute minimum required for the encounter.
Earlier this month, the Guardian also had an article of a German tourist who crossed over the land border (San Ysidro Port of Entry, I assume) who was detained for a long while too. The details seemed kind of similar to this situation where it involves suspicion of tourists working in the USA without the proper authorizations.
While I don't like the whole "detaining people instead of just turning them around", but the German you are referring to was a tattoo artist who had posted on their instagram that they were doing pop-up tattoo events in LA, and then tried to enter on a tourist visa. She very much was in violation of the law, in other words.
If she is on a "four-month backpacking trip around North America" and tried to return to the US, she has exceeded the 90-day limit allowed by the Visa Waiver Program (which counts days both in the US and "adjacent territories") and is now an illegal overstayer. The unpaid labor stuff and getting refused entry to Canada is icing on the cake. For the record, I'm no fan of ICE/CBP, but it looks like they're just enforci…
I don't think enforcing the law is the problem so much as the reaction. Why is she jailed rather than simply placed on one of the daily nonstops from Sea-Tac to Heathrow?