EXCLUSIVE Australian woman, 25, urges travellers to avoid the United States after she was detained, stripped and forced to spend the night in a federal prison for a ridiculous reason

Daily Mail​

22-05-2025

A young Aussie who was detained, stripped and held overnight in a US federal prison while attempting to visit her husband, a US citizen, has spoken out, asking Australians to think twice before travelling to the country.
Former NSW police officer Nikki Saroukos, 25, was detained by US border officials upon entering the country via Honolulu, Hawai i on Sunday..
It was a routine visit for the 25-year-old whose husband has been stationed as a lieutenant in the US Army on the island since August, 2023.
At no point was she given a reason for her detention, beyond the fact that border officials did not believe her story that she was visiting her husband after claiming she had packed more clothing than was necessary for a three-week stay
She was joined by her mother at the time with plans to spend three weeks together, including weekends spent by the sea during her husband's days off.
After clearing customs, however, it became clear things would not be as simple as they had been in her many previous visits.
'We went through, you know, customs and border security, as per usual, and we got stopped to check our passports,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
'I'm an ex-police officer and he was taking a little bit, checking stuff on the computer. My mum started asking, like, ''Oh, is there a problem?'' and asked if he needed any more information.
'He went from being super calm, very nice, even giving my mum a compliment, to just instantly turning.
'He yelled at the top of his lungs and told my mum to go stand at the back of the line because she was being nosy and asking too many questions.'
'Everyone in the airport kind of just froze because his voice literally echoed three rooms over... that's how loud he was.'
Soon, the pair were taken downstairs where officers proceeded to search their luggage.
'They questioned me, stating that because of the amount of clothes that I had in my suitcase that I was intending on overstaying my ESTA visa which, I said, "I'm really not, like I have a return flight home".
They were then taken to a private room where the 25-year-old was forced to hand over her phone and passcode.
'They would come back and forth, ask me questions about my experience in the police force. They tried to get an understanding of, like, what I was exposed to in the job.
'They tried to insinuate that I was part of like gang-related syndicates, or that I was giving intel to criminal organizations'.
Her mother, who was being questioned in the same room, was soon allowed to leave. It would be nearly 24 hours before the two would see each other again.
Ms Saroukos felt she had been singled-out from the beginning.
'It was kind of like they locked-in on me and then they ran with it. It wasn't, it wasn't like a fair process, [is] what I believe.'
Alone, the officers requested a written statement on her reasons for travel, income and personal information regarding her relationship with her husband.
Some time later, she was required to sign a declaration stating she had no cartel affiliations before being subjected to an oral DNA swab and fingerprinting.
She was then informed her written statement had been rejected and would be forced to spend the night in a federal detention facility before being deported back to Australia.
Ms Saroukos then requested a phone call with her husband and officers assured her they would inform him on her behalf - a promise she would learn the following day they did not make good on.
Soon, she was handcuffed and marched through the airport in full view of the public before being subjected to a full cavity search at Honolulu Federal Detention Facility.
'It was obviously very invasive, like they were feeling everything,' she said.
Officers then removed her handcuffs and, after another round of fingerprinting, Ms Saroukos was forced to strip naked before she was asked to dress into prison clothes and returned to the processing room where, she claimed, an officer expressed his disapproval of her detention.
'He said to me that I should not be there. He goes: 'I do not know why they brought you here, but... we are seeing this more than anything, and it's really alarming.''
Ms Saroukos was then processed and given a blanket. She was told she had missed the cut-off for dinner and would have to go hungry and was denied a shower on the basis there were no available towels.
She was then ushered into the facility where she briefly mingled with the other inmates.
'Obviously conversing with the inmates, I was aware of their charges. And one of the women in there that was speaking to me, she was convicted of murder... the facility was intense.'
At 8.40pm, she was locked in a cell with a Fijian woman she learned had been similarly detained upon attempting to enter the country for a wedding.
'Apparently, she was forced to take a pregnancy test, and also she was forced to take an injection, to which she didn't know what that injection was.
'And she was leaving two days after my departure from that facility, because they couldn't find her a flight.'
'It was one of those things where I was in a foreign country. I had no idea what my rights were. I was terrified.
'I thought I was never going to get out of that facility.
'Because of all the horror stories I've heard from other travelers traveling through the United States, I kept asking the officers if I was safe in that facility, because I felt like they put my life at risk because I was being housed with criminals.
'I didn't feel safe, and even staying in there overnight, I didn't get any sleep, because I was constantly worried about what was going to happen to me and my family didn't know where I was.'
Meanwhile, her mother and husband were desperately searching for answers, before allegedly being told by a Hawaiian Airlines staff member she had likely been removed to the nearby federal detention facility.
After a sleepless night, Ms Saroukos returned to the airport under police custody and was allowed to call the Australian embassy. She requested they inform her mother she had been booked on a 12.15pm flight in order that she might also book a ticket.
Several hours later, she was once again escorted by officers in view of the public to her gate and made to board the flight ahead of all other passengers.
'I was actually escorted onto the plane.
'I was the first person everybody was looking at me, because I had two officers escorting me.'
Some time later, passengers began to board the flight. Among them, her mother.
'It was probably the best feeling in the world to see my mother after not knowing whether I was even going to come out of that prison, and hadn't spoken to anyone.
'I had no contact. I had no idea if they were okay, and my mom obviously made me aware when I got to speak to her for the first time, that she had no idea where I was.
'So it was, it just felt really good to be back with my mum again.'
Asked how she felt looking back on the incident, Ms Saroukos said she felt 'disgusted' and vowed never to return to the US.
'I felt like I was targeted, and they treated me like I was a criminal who committed a crime, and they kept telling me that I had done nothing wrong, but yet their actions don't reflect what they were telling me,' she said.
'I never want to return back to the United States like they've pretty much traumatized me [from] ever returning back there, which automatically strains my marriage as well, because my husband lives over there.
Ms Saroukos said her husband is now attempting to resign from the US military to move home and be with her.
'So the holiday was [planned with] pure, pure intentions, and it quickly turned into the holiday from hell.'
Ms Saroukos is one of many international travellers who has made the decision to find alternative travel destinations in recent months.
In April, University of Sydney academic Gemma Smart cancelled plans to travel to the US for a work conference based on fears she would be discriminated against for her academic background and disability status.
'I do know I'm not the only academic who has made a similar decision about this conference or others, and I think the impacts of this are hard to quantify, but potentially devastating,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
'Given many of us are in a cohort that was also affected by Covid-19 restrictions, it's difficult to assess how this will affect the state of academic research moving forward.
Ms Smart wants all Australians to consider how their backgrounds could potentially affect their chances of facing a similar treatment to Ms Saroukos.
'It's important for Australians, particularly those in minority groups, to be aware of the concerns raised by many entering the USA.
'For academics, especially those of us working in areas broadly related to DEI, those of us involved in activism or advocacy, or those who have sensitive data privacy concerns due to the type of research we're doing we have to seriously consider whether travel to the USA is appropriate at this time.
'If it can't be avoided, care should be taken to secure data and personal security.'