Traveling to the USA They complain that passports controlling officials behave aggressively towards them. EU citizens, except for travelers from Bulgaria and Romania (citizens of the latter country from March 31), can enter the USA for 90 days without a visa, provided that they have completed the appropriate ESTA form online and provided the required information about their origin.
So why Four Germans stayed detained by American customs services and detained for several weeks?
Green useless card
– I feel so helpless – she told journalists in Boston Astrid Senior after her son Fabian Schmidt was detained at the airport on March 7.
Senior i Schmidt They are not ordinary tourists, they have a green cardand thus permission to stay in the USA.
As Astrid Senior says, her 34-year-old son was interrogated for many hourswhen he returned to the USA after visiting Germany. He was told that his green card was invalid. Her son was refused sleep, food, water and medicine. His condition deteriorated to such an extent that He was hospitalized.
The American customs authorities confirmed Schmidt's hospitalization, but they told the media that they could not further comment on cases for legal reasons. Fabian Schmidt's lawyer, David Keller, said that neither he nor his client They were not informed about the reasons for the detention.
John Gihon from the American Association of Immigration Lawyers told DW that There is no time limitby which you can be kept by customs authorities without formal allegations. “There used to be the principle that the indictment had to be in hand within a maximum of 72 hours, but it seems that it no longer applies,” says Gihon.
German Ministry of Foreign Affairs intervenes
Astrid Senior said in an interview with Boston Radio WGBH that her son in the past he had conflicts with the law in the USAincluding having marijuana and driving under its influence, but not in recent years. Charges of marijuana were even withdrawn after the drug legalization in California, where the incident took place. Her son, however, did not comply with a court call in this case in 2022 after the authorities did not transfer the call to the new Schmidt address in New Hampshire.
– Fabian He told me he was very afraid – Astrid Senior said. Her son is an electrician engineer, lives in a long -term partnership and has an eight -year -old daughter.
– He was pressed to return his green card, but he refused his mother continued. He is still in detention in Rhode Island, where protests against his arrest regularly take place.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany He told Deutsche Welle that the General Consulate of Germany in Boston provides consular support to Schmidt and is in contact with him, his family and local authorities.
“One thing is certain: we also expect our partners that the conditions of detention are fulfilled International Human Rights Standardsand detainees are treated in a humanitarian way, “said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Tourists for weeks in custody
25-year-old Lucas Sielaff with Biber Bibro In the East German trade union country, Saxony-Anhalt recently told the magazine “Der Spiegel” with a similar incident. He was released after two weeks in prison and had to return to Germany.
Sielaff said he was visiting his American friend in NebraSka, which he often did in recent years. They took the girl's sick dog to the vet in Mexico, where the treatment was easier, and when they re -entered the USA, on the border it took place unpleasant interrogation.
The German suspects that the border services recognized him as a person who is illegally in the USA. Sielaff He was sent to the deportation detention In California – together with over a hundred other men. March 6, after he was not given the reason for the arrest for two weeks, he stayed placed on a plane to Munich.
At the beginning of the year, also a Berlin tattoo artist Jessica Brösche She was detained in the US for two weeks. On January 15, she wanted to enter the USA from Mexico. She had tattoo equipment with her and the clerk said he was trying to work illegally in the USA. After six weeks of detention, she was sent to Germany.
22-year-old German student Celine Flad She also had unpleasant experiences with American border services.
She wanted to go on vacation to New York and Miami, but despite having a valid passport and completing the ESTA form, she was told that she was “problem” with her passport she told Der Spiegel magazine.
She was detained for 24 hours and asked many times why he wanted to enter the USA. Border agents They took her smartphone and looked at the pictures taken with it she said.
Although she showed officials with her hotel reservations in New York and Miami, as well as a airline ticket to Cancún in Mexico, she was told that He must return to Germany as soon as possible. However, it was not said why.
The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns
Four Germans are not the only ones who have found themselves in such situations since the time when prezydent Donald Trump He announced the fight against illegal immigration. Also people from other countries who can enter the USA without a visa, such as You have Whether Francereport similar incidents.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany has published information for travelers, in which it warns that the visa and completed ESTA form “do not automatically entitle to enter the country”.
Resort – as he replies to the query DW – “He treats incidents very seriouslythat took place in recent weeks. “
Elizabeth Schumacher, Polish editorial office Deutsche Welle