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The Independent
28-04-2025
- The Independent
How dream vacations became ‘like a horror movie' amidst Trump's border crackdown
Charlotte Pohl and Maria Lepère's first night in Honolulu was not how they intended. The jet-setting high school graduates from Rostock, Germany, had envisioned island-hopping across Hawaii before flying inland to California. Instead, they woke up from their 'fever dream' on a moldy mattress in a frigid, dilapidated cell, detained by authorities when they arrived at Honolulu airport and had attempted to go through U.S. customs. Pohl and Lepère's experience is one of several harrowing, high-profile accounts from tourists who have had their vacations derailed at the hands of border officials since Donald Trump 's return to the White House in January. Ever since the president promised to stage 'the largest deportation operation in American history' earlier this year, international tourism to the U.S. has plummeted amid reports of detained tourists and travelers. Total foreign visitors were down 12 percent year-on-year in March, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. That drop marked one of the steepest declines on record outside of the Covid-19 pandemic. Western European visitors experienced a 17 percent drop-off last month, spearheaded by fewer British and German visitors — 14 and 28 percent, respectively. Here are some of the tourists that did try and visit — but instead had their American dreams dashed. Charlotte Pohl, 19, and Maria Lepère, 18, from Germany Pohl, 19, and Lepère, 18, were denied entry into the U.S. on March 18 despite holding the required documentation, including the electronic visa required by most visitors. The teens said that they wanted to travel 'spontaneously,' and subsequently hadn't booked accommodation for the entirety of their five-week stint on the archipelago, Pohl told German newspaper Ostsee Zeitung. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham countered this week that the tourists were 'attempting to enter the U.S. under false pretenses,' and claimed they admitted they 'intended to work' without the appropriate visas. The travelers told the newspaper they were stripped and searched before being given prison garments to wear and locked in a double cell. After three days detained, they returned to Rostock via Tokyo, Qatar, and Frankfurt am Main. 'We had already noticed a little bit of what was going on in the U.S. But at the time, we didn't think it was happening to Germans. That was perhaps very naive,' Lepère reflected. For tourists like Pohl and Lepère, and others legally in the U.S. and subsequently removed, that so-called 'privilege' was not afforded. Rebecca Burke, 28, Wales Welsh graphic artist Rebecca Burke was detained on February 26 after she embarked on 'the trip of a lifetime' across North America. The 28-year-old from Monmouthshire was reunited with her family this month after spending 19 days in a processing center after being denied entry at the border between the U.S. and Canada over a so-called visa mix-up. Burke had been residing with host families in Portland, Oregon, whom she helped out with chores in exchange for her accomodation. As she attempted to cross into Canada, border officials informed her that her living arrangements would mean she needed a work visa, not a tourist one. She was sent back to the U.S. where American officials classed her as an illegal alien. Burke was shackled and transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma, Washington. She was not allowed to fly home to the U.K. despite having the funds to pay for a plane ticket. Burke was detained while attempting to leave the U.S., not entering it. As she was ushered to the plane before finally being flown back to Britain, her father told the BBC she had been taken in 'leg chains, waist chains and handcuffs' like The Silence of the Lambs serial killer, 'Hannibal Lecter.' Lucas Sielaff, 25, Germany German Lucas Sielaff spent more than two weeks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a prison in San Diego, California, after trying to cross the southern border from Tijuana in Mexico in February with his fiancée, Lennon Tyler, an American psychologist. The couple, who were on vacation, allegedly drove to Tijuana for medical treatment for Dr. Tyler's dog. Tyler, who was handcuffed before being released, said she was chained to a bench and had her arms twisted by border agents, she told the New York Times. Reportedly because of a language barrier, Sielaff, 25, got an answer wrong regarding where he lived as he attempted to re-enter the U.S. from Mexico. The man said he shared a cell with eight other people and shared one microwave oven with 120 people to heat his food. He was eventually allowed voluntary deportation on a flight that cost him more than $2,700. 'Sometimes I just wake up because I have nightmares of this situation and what happened,' he told The Times. 'And I just try to go for walks and calm down.' A German tattoo artist spent more than six weeks also at the Otay Mesa Detention Center after officials believed that she was trying to illegally work in the U.S. At least eight days of her time in custody were reportedly spent in solitary confinement. Jessica Brösche, 29, was on the trip with her American friend Nikita Lofving as a tourist under the ESTA visa waiver program when she attempted to cross the southern border into San Diego in late January. Brösche was traveling with tattoo equipment, leading border officers to believe that she was trying to work unlawfully in the U.S., according to The Guardian. She is said to have planned to tattoo Lofving in exchange for some clothes. 'She says it was like a horror movie,' Lofving told ABC 10 News of her friend's experience. 'They were screaming in all different rooms. After nine days, she said she went so insane that she started punching the walls and then she's got blood on her knuckles.' Travelers are now avoiding heading to the U.S. An Australian man was detained last month for eight hours in John F. Kennedy Airport after arriving in New York after a 24-hour flight from Sydney, via Hong Kong, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The traveler, who spoke to the newspaper on the condition of anonymity, said he intended to board a cruise in Florida but was questioned by border officials after taking what he described as a 'very unusual route from Australia via Asia' for cheaper air fare. After having his laptop and phone searched, the man said he was deported back to Australia, thousands of dollars out of pocket after his cruise line allegedly refused to refund him. 'I feel like returning to the US under the current administration would be the equivalent of going back for your hat after escaping a devastating house fire,' he said. 'I have no wish to be burnt again.' Stories of distressing detentions, stricter border controls and the Trump administration's imperialistic rhetoric are seemingly only part of the puzzle. Tourists also appear to be repelled by consequential changes in foreign diplomacy, not least the president attempting to foment a global trade war as he aggressively attempts to pursue his America First agenda. When pressed on the 'steep drop-off' of tourism in the U.S. in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump retorted: 'It's not a big deal.' 'It is a privilege extended to those who respect our laws and values,' he added.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Yahoo
The tourists whose dream American vacations were destroyed by Trump's border crackdown
Charlotte Pohl and Maria Lepère's first night in Honolulu was not how they intended. The jet-setting high school graduates from Rostock, Germany, had envisioned island-hopping across Hawaii before flying inland to California. Instead, they woke up from their 'fever dream' on a moldy mattress in a frigid, dilapidated cell, detained by authorities when they arrived at Honolulu airport and had attempted to go through U.S. customs. Pohl and Lepère's experience is one of several harrowing, high-profile accounts from tourists who have had their vacations derailed at the hands of border officials since Donald Trump's return to the White House in January. Ever since the president promised to stage 'the largest deportation operation in American history' earlier this year, international tourism to the U.S. has plummeted amid reports of detained tourists and travelers. Total foreign visitors were down 12 percent year-on-year in March, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. That drop marked one of the steepest declines on record outside of the Covid-19 pandemic. Western European visitors experienced a 17 percent drop-off last month, spearheaded by fewer British and German visitors — 14 and 28 percent, respectively. Here are some of the tourists that did try and visit — but instead had their American dreams dashed. Pohl, 19, and Lepère, 18, were denied entry into the U.S. on March 18 despite holding the required documentation, including the electronic visa required by most visitors. The teens said that they wanted to travel 'spontaneously,' and subsequently hadn't booked accommodation for the entirety of their five-week stint on the archipelago, Pohl told German newspaper Ostsee Zeitung. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham countered this week that the tourists were 'attempting to enter the U.S. under false pretenses,' and claimed they admitted they 'intended to work' without the appropriate visas. The travelers told the newspaper they were stripped and searched before being given prison garments to wear and locked in a double cell. After three days detained, they returned to Rostock via Tokyo, Qatar, and Frankfurt am Main. 'We had already noticed a little bit of what was going on in the U.S. But at the time, we didn't think it was happening to Germans. That was perhaps very naive,' Lepère reflected. For tourists like Pohl and Lepère, and others legally in the U.S. and subsequently removed, that so-called 'privilege' was not afforded. Welsh graphic artist Rebecca Burke was detained on February 26 after she embarked on 'the trip of a lifetime' across North America. The 28-year-old from Monmouthshire was reunited with her family this month after spending 19 days in a processing center after being denied entry at the border between the U.S. and Canada over a so-called visa mix-up. Burke had been residing with host families in Portland, Oregon, whom she helped out with chores in exchange for her accomodation. As she attempted to cross into Canada, border officials informed her that her living arrangements would mean she needed a work visa, not a tourist one. She was sent back to the U.S. where American officials classed her as an illegal alien. Burke was shackled and transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma, Washington. She was not allowed to fly home to the U.K. despite having the funds to pay for a plane ticket. Burke was detained while attempting to leave the U.S., not entering it. As she was ushered to the plane before finally being flown back to Britain, her father told the BBC she had been taken in 'leg chains, waist chains and handcuffs' like The Silence of the Lambs serial killer, 'Hannibal Lecter.' German Lucas Sielaff spent more than two weeks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a prison in San Diego, California, after trying to cross the southern border from Tijuana in Mexico in February with his fiancée, Lennon Tyler, an American psychologist. The couple, who were on vacation, allegedly drove to Tijuana for medical treatment for Dr. Tyler's dog. Tyler, who was handcuffed before being released, said she was chained to a bench and had her arms twisted by border agents, she told the New York Times. Reportedly because of a language barrier, Sielaff, 25, got an answer wrong regarding where he lived as he attempted to re-enter the U.S. from Mexico. The man said he shared a cell with eight other people and shared one microwave oven with 120 people to heat his food. He was eventually allowed voluntary deportation on a flight that cost him more than $2,700. 'Sometimes I just wake up because I have nightmares of this situation and what happened,' he told The Times. 'And I just try to go for walks and calm down.' A German tattoo artist spent more than six weeks also at the Otay Mesa Detention Center after officials believed that she was trying to illegally work in the U.S. At least eight days of her time in custody were reportedly spent in solitary confinement. Jessica Brösche, 29, was on the trip with her American friend Nikita Lofving as a tourist under the ESTA visa waiver program when she attempted to cross the southern border into San Diego in late January. Brösche was traveling with tattoo equipment, leading border officers to believe that she was trying to work unlawfully in the U.S., according to The Guardian. She is said to have planned to tattoo Lofving in exchange for some clothes. 'She says it was like a horror movie,' Lofving told ABC 10 News of her friend's experience. 'They were screaming in all different rooms. After nine days, she said she went so insane that she started punching the walls and then she's got blood on her knuckles.' An Australian man was detained last month for eight hours in John F. Kennedy Airport after arriving in New York after a 24-hour flight from Sydney, via Hong Kong, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The traveler, who spoke to the newspaper on the condition of anonymity, said he intended to board a cruise in Florida but was questioned by border officials after taking what he described as a 'very unusual route from Australia via Asia' for cheaper air fare. After having his laptop and phone searched, the man said he was deported back to Australia, thousands of dollars out of pocket after his cruise line allegedly refused to refund him. 'I feel like returning to the US under the current administration would be the equivalent of going back for your hat after escaping a devastating house fire,' he said. 'I have no wish to be burnt again.' Stories of distressing detentions, stricter border controls and the Trump administration's imperialistic rhetoric are seemingly only part of the puzzle. Tourists also appear to be repelled by consequential changes in foreign diplomacy, not least the president attempting to foment a global trade war as he aggressively attempts to pursue his America First agenda. When pressed on the 'steep drop-off' of tourism in the U.S. in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump retorted: 'It's not a big deal.' Two weeks earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a Fox News op-ed that 'visiting America is not an entitlement.' 'It is a privilege extended to those who respect our laws and values,' he added.
The Independent
27-04-2025
- The Independent
The tourists whose dream American vacations were destroyed by Trump's border crackdown
Charlotte Pohl and Maria Lepère's first night in Honolulu was not how they intended. The jet-setting high school graduates from Rostock, Germany, had envisioned island-hopping across Hawaii before flying inland to California. Instead, they woke up from their 'fever dream' on a moldy mattress in a frigid, dilapidated cell, detained by authorities when they arrived at Honolulu airport and had attempted to go through U.S. customs. Pohl and Lepère's experience is one of several harrowing, high-profile accounts from tourists who have had their vacations derailed at the hands of border officials since Donald Trump 's return to the White House in January. Ever since the president promised to stage 'the largest deportation operation in American history' earlier this year, international tourism to the U.S. has plummeted amid reports of detained tourists and travelers. Total foreign visitors were down 12 percent year-on-year in March, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. That drop marked one of the steepest declines on record outside of the Covid-19 pandemic. Western European visitors experienced a 17 percent drop-off last month, spearheaded by fewer British and German visitors — 14 and 28 percent, respectively. Here are some of the tourists that did try and visit — but instead had their American dreams dashed. Charlotte Pohl, 19, and Maria Lepère, 18, from Germany Pohl, 19, and Lepère, 18, were denied entry into the U.S. on March 18 despite holding the required documentation, including the electronic visa required by most visitors. The teens said that they wanted to travel 'spontaneously,' and subsequently hadn't booked accommodation for the entirety of their five-week stint on the archipelago, Pohl told German newspaper Ostsee Zeitung. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham countered this week that the tourists were 'attempting to enter the U.S. under false pretenses,' and claimed they admitted they 'intended to work' without the appropriate visas. The travelers told the newspaper they were stripped and searched before being given prison garments to wear and locked in a double cell. After three days detained, they returned to Rostock via Tokyo, Qatar, and Frankfurt am Main. 'We had already noticed a little bit of what was going on in the U.S. But at the time, we didn't think it was happening to Germans. That was perhaps very naive,' Lepère reflected. For tourists like Pohl and Lepère, and others legally in the U.S. and subsequently removed, that so-called 'privilege' was not afforded. Rebecca Burke, 28, Wales Welsh graphic artist Rebecca Burke was detained on February 26 after she embarked on 'the trip of a lifetime' across North America. The 28-year-old from Monmouthshire was reunited with her family this month after spending 19 days in a processing center after being denied entry at the border between the U.S. and Canada over a so-called visa mix-up. Burke had been residing with host families in Portland, Oregon, whom she helped out with chores in exchange for her accomodation. As she attempted to cross into Canada, border officials informed her that her living arrangements would mean she needed a work visa, not a tourist one. She was sent back to the U.S. where American officials classed her as an illegal alien. Burke was shackled and transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma, Washington. She was not allowed to fly home to the U.K. despite having the funds to pay for a plane ticket. Burke was detained while attempting to leave the U.S., not entering it. As she was ushered to the plane before finally being flown back to Britain, her father told the BBC she had been taken in 'leg chains, waist chains and handcuffs' like The Silence of the Lambs serial killer, 'Hannibal Lecter.' Lucas Sielaff, 25, Germany German Lucas Sielaff spent more than two weeks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a prison in San Diego, California, after trying to cross the southern border from Tijuana in Mexico in February with his fiancée, Lennon Tyler, an American psychologist. The couple, who were on vacation, allegedly drove to Tijuana for medical treatment for Dr. Tyler's dog. Tyler, who was handcuffed before being released, said she was chained to a bench and had her arms twisted by border agents, she told the New York Times. Reportedly because of a language barrier, Sielaff, 25, got an answer wrong regarding where he lived as he attempted to re-enter the U.S. from Mexico. The man said he shared a cell with eight other people and shared one microwave oven with 120 people to heat his food. He was eventually allowed voluntary deportation on a flight that cost him more than $2,700. 'Sometimes I just wake up because I have nightmares of this situation and what happened,' he told The Times. 'And I just try to go for walks and calm down.' Jessica Brösche, 29, Germany A German tattoo artist spent more than six weeks also at the Otay Mesa Detention Center after officials believed that she was trying to illegally work in the U.S. At least eight days of her time in custody were reportedly spent in solitary confinement. Jessica Brösche, 29, was on the trip with her American friend Nikita Lofving as a tourist under the ESTA visa waiver program when she attempted to cross the southern border into San Diego in late January. Brösche was traveling with tattoo equipment, leading border officers to believe that she was trying to work unlawfully in the U.S., according to The Guardian. She is said to have planned to tattoo Lofving in exchange for some clothes. 'She says it was like a horror movie,' Lofving told ABC 10 News of her friend's experience. 'They were screaming in all different rooms. After nine days, she said she went so insane that she started punching the walls and then she's got blood on her knuckles.' Travelers are now avoiding heading to the U.S. An Australian man was detained last month for eight hours in John F. Kennedy Airport after arriving in New York after a 24-hour flight from Sydney, via Hong Kong, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The traveler, who spoke to the newspaper on the condition of anonymity, said he intended to board a cruise in Florida but was questioned by border officials after taking what he described as a 'very unusual route from Australia via Asia' for cheaper air fare. After having his laptop and phone searched, the man said he was deported back to Australia, thousands of dollars out of pocket after his cruise line allegedly refused to refund him. 'I feel like returning to the US under the current administration would be the equivalent of going back for your hat after escaping a devastating house fire,' he said. 'I have no wish to be burnt again.' Stories of distressing detentions, stricter border controls and the Trump administration's imperialistic rhetoric are seemingly only part of the puzzle. Tourists also appear to be repelled by consequential changes in foreign diplomacy, not least the president attempting to foment a global trade war as he aggressively attempts to pursue his America First agenda. When pressed on the 'steep drop-off' of tourism in the U.S. in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump retorted: 'It's not a big deal.' Two weeks earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a Fox News op-ed that 'visiting America is not an entitlement.' 'It is a privilege extended to those who respect our laws and values,' he added.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Yahoo
What we know about claims US border protection detained, deported 2 German tourists in Hawaii
In April 2025, claims circulated that U.S. border authorities detained and deported two German tourists in Hawaii. The claims came from reports in German and English about Charlotte Pohl and Marie Lepère, German women who were reportedly stopped by U.S. border police while attempting to enter the U.S. in Hawaii. According to German media reports, authorities handcuffed and strip-searched the women before detaining them overnight and eventually deporting them to Japan at their own request. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Pohl and Lepère were "denied entry after attempting to enter the U.S. under false pretenses," allegedly admitting they intended to work. The CBP did not confirm the pair were detained or comment on allegations about officers handcuffing or strip-searching the women. Pohl and Lepère claimed officials altered their testimonies during interrogation, changing or adding sentences to make it appear as if they intended to work in the U.S. when that was never their intention. In April 2025, claims (archived) circulated online that U.S. border authorities detained and deported two German tourists in Hawaii. One X user, whose post had more than 4 million views at the time of this writing, wrote: "2 female German tourists, 18 and 19 y.o., were detained in Honolulu for a terrible 'crime' of not pre-booking a hotel for their trip. Before deportation, they had to spend the night at the detention center. News like that will certainly do wonders for Hawaiian tourism industry" The claim circulated across X (archived), Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), TikTok (archived) and Bluesky (archived). Snopes readers also emailed to ask whether the claim was true. The claim originated from German media reports about Charlotte Pohl and Marie Lepère, then 19 and 18, respectively, whom border officials reportedly stopped while they were attempting to enter the U.S. in Hawaii on March 18, 2025. According to German media reports, border police handcuffed and strip-searched the women before detaining them overnight and eventually deporting them to Japan at their own request. At the time of this writing, details confirmed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection were at odds with accounts given by Pohl and Lepére. The CBP did not confirm it detained the women, and it said they were "denied entry" rather than deported. Pohl and Lepére told two German news outlets they both had ESTAs — a travel authorization under the Visa Waiver Program — but the CBP said one of the women had a visitor visa. The CBP did not comment on the women's accounts of being handcuffed, strip-searched and detained overnight. CBP Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham said the pair were denied entry, not deported, and that: These travelers were denied entry after attempting to enter the U.S. under false pretenses. One used a Visitor visa, the other the Visa Waiver Program. Both claimed they were touring California but later admitted they intended to work—something strictly prohibited under U.S. immigration laws for these visas. A spokesperson from the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "As soon as the Federal Foreign Office received word of this case, our Honorary Consul in Honolulu and our Consulate General in San Francisco took over consular support. We kindly ask you for your understanding, that we cannot share anymore detailed information on this case." We reached out to Pohl and Lepére to confirm their quotes to German media about their experience and details about their detainment and await a reply. Pohl and Lepére told German media that border officials first became suspicious about the duration of the women's trip, their finances and that they had not booked accommodation for the entirety of their planned five-week stay. Recounting their immigration experience, Pohl told the German news website When it was our turn, the border official checked our passports, we had to give fingerprints, a photo was taken — the usual procedure. And then the questions started: Where we were staying, what our route plans were, where we had been before and, above all, how we were financing the trip. We explained everything and also offered to show everything: the booking for the first accommodation, bank statements, our return flight tickets. But the officer wasn't interested at all and sent us straight to an interrogation room. From there, the women told officials interrogated them, handcuffed them and sent them to what they described as a prison near the airport. It was not possible to independently confirm Pohl and Lepére's main claim that they were detained overnight by CBP. The CBP statement said the travelers were denied entry, but not that they were detained, and the organization declined to comment further. A report in Die Ostsee-Zeitung, a German-language newspaper based in Rostock where Pohl and Lepére live, included the pair's mug shots and registration numbers. Searches by name and the numbers listed on Pohl and Lepére's documentation did not reveal inmate records on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detainee Locator. That is because the system does not register inmates held for less than 48 hours. Searches on VINE, a third-party inmate information database, and the Federal Bureau of Prison's database using Pohl and Lepére's names also revealed no results. According to Pohl and Lepére's account to Die Ostsee-Zeitung, the morning after they were detained, officers took them back the airport in handcuffs and put them on a flight to Japan, a destination they had chosen to travel on to rather than being sent back to New Zealand, where they had originally arrived from. Once in Japan, the pair were able to view their interrogation papers, which they had signed immediately after the interrogations took place and without time to properly read them through, according to Pohl. In its statement, the CBP said it denied entry to the women after they "admitted" they intended to work in the U.S., something not permitted on their visas. However, in Die Ostsee-Zeitung's report, Pohl accused U.S. border officials of adding to or altering what the pair told officials. "There were sentences in there that we didn't say at all," Pohl told Die Ostsee-Zeitung, "They made it sound like we had admitted that we wanted to work illegally in the USA." Lepére told Some of the answers were really falsified. For example, when asked why I wanted to go to the USA, I answered: "To travel and to visit my family in California." In the end, the paper said: "Work for accommodation and extra pocket money." It reads as if we wanted to work illegally in the USA, which we never said because it was never our intention. The CBP did not reply when asked about this allegation. Additionally, according to Die Ostsee-Zeitung and an interview in the women both had valid Electronic System for Travel Authorization visa waivers. A successful ESTA application allows eligible passengers to travel to the U.S., though admissibility — whether they will be let in — is still determined by CBP officers at the border. However, the CBP statement claimed one woman used a visitor visa and the other the Visa Waiver Program to travel to the U.S. It was not possible to independently verify the type of visa Pohl and Lepére used. Snopes previously reported on claims that a British tourist was detained by ICE after being refused entry into the U.S. provided translations for Pohl and Lepére's quotes that they originally gave in German. Electronic System for Travel Authorization | U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025. Fröbe, Sönke. "Rostockerinnen Landen in Trumps Abschiebeknast in Den USA: "Haben Uns so Machtlos Gefühlt"." Ostsee Zeitung, 10 Apr. 2025, "Hawaii: Zwei junge deutsche Frauen nach Einreise inhaftiert und abgeschoben - WELT." DIE WELT, Accessed 22 Apr. 2025. Inmate Locator. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025. Online Detainee Locator System. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025. VINELink. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025. Visa Waiver Program. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025. Visitor Visa. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025. "Zwei Freundinnen flogen nach Hawaii – und landeten in einem Albtraum." 22 Apr. 2025,
Sky News AU
22-04-2025
- Sky News AU
German teens denied entry to the US for travelling ‘under false pretenses' and ‘intended to work': Border Patrol
A pair of backpacking German teens booted from the US lied about the purpose of their trip, Customs and Border Patrol said — but the women claim US officials 'twisted' their words to trump up the allegations. Maria Lepere and Charlotte Pohl, 18 and 19, arrived in Hawaii on March 18 with short-term travel permits ahead of weeks-long US trip but were detained by Border Patrol (CBP) and sent packing back to Germany within hours. 'These travelers were denied entry after attempting to enter the US under false pretenses. One used a Visitor visa, the other the Visa Waiver Program,' CBP officials told The Post Monday. 'Both claimed they were touring California but later admitted they intended to work — something strictly prohibited under US immigration laws for these visas.' But the women — who were planning to continue on to Los Angeles and then Costa Rica after Hawaii — insisted they were interrogated by CBP for hours, and that transcripts show their words were 'twisted' and outright falsified. 'They contained sentences we didn't actually say,' Pohl said of interrogation transcripts they were sent home with. 'They twisted it to make it seem as if we admitted that we wanted to work illegally in the US,' she told the German outlet Ostee Zeitung. The two women, recent high school graduates, had just spent five weeks in Thailand and New Zealand and were continuing on to the US and Central America as part of a global backpacking trip when they found themselves in a CBP interrogation room in Honolulu. The teens claimed CBP targeted them because they hadn't booked hotels for their entire stay in Hawaii. 'They found it suspicious that we hadn't fully booked our accommodations for the entire five weeks in Hawaii,' Pohl said. 'We wanted to travel spontaneously. Just like we had done in Thailand and New Zealand.' They said they had gone through all the necessary steps to enter and travel the US, but after hours of being held and interviewed, CBP told them their entry was denied — and that they would be detained until their deportation. Both say they were handcuffed and sent to a detention center, which they claimed was more like a prison. 'We were searched with metal detectors, our entire bodies were scanned, and we had to stand naked in front of the police officers and were looked through,' Pohl said. 'Then we were given green prison clothes and put in a prison cell with serious criminals.' Among them was someone who had spent 18 years behind bars for murder, the women said, and they were left sleeping in a double cell with tiny barred windows and metal bunks with moldy mattresses. 'We were freezing because the air conditioning was turned up so high,' Pohl said. 'The inmates fill their shampoo bottles with hot water and use them as hot water bottles to keep them warm.' And dinner wasn't any better. 'The meal consisted of two slices of toast and expired cheese. The guard warned us 'Don't eat the cheese under any circumstances,'' Lepere said. 'It was like a fever dream.' Come morning, the women were handcuffed again and taken to the airport, where they were put on a Hawaiian Airlines flight to Japan on the way back home to Germany. 'It was a shock. We didn't expect it. We had already noticed a little bit of what was going on in the US,' she said, referring to the Trump administration's crackdown of illegal immigration in the country. 'But at the time, we didn't think it was happening to Germans,' Lepere said. 'That was perhaps very naïve. We felt so small and powerless.' While they're back home, Pohl and Lepere told Ostee Zeitung they won't let the US get in the way of their globetrotting and are already laying plans for a trip to Mexico and a five-week stint in Costa Rica — where they intend to find work at a surf camp. Foreign tourism in the US has declined in recent months, so much so that Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to assure travelers that the US was safe during comments to the press earlier this month. 'I would say that if you're not coming to the United States to join a Hamas protest or to come here and tell us about how right Hamas is or to tell us about — stir up conflict on our campuses and create riots in our street and vandalize our universities, then you have nothing to worry about,' Rubio said. Originally published as German teens denied entry to the US for travelling 'under false pretences' and 'intended to work': Border Patrol
