Us -termination of European and Canadian tourists creates fear of traveling to America

San Diego (AP) lenon Tyler and her German fiance often went on road trips to Mexico when he went on vacation in the USA because it was only a day trip from her house in Las Vegas, one of the advantages of her long-distance relationship.

But things went terribly wrong when they left Tijuana last month.

Tyler, a US citizen, captivated with handcuffs and chains them to a bank, while her fiance Lucas Sielaff was captured against the rules of his 90-day US tourist permit, the couple said. The authorities later captivated with handcuffs and sent him to a crowded US immigration finding center. He spent 16 days locked before he was allowed to fly home to Germany.

Since President Donald Trump started office, there have been other incidents from tourists such as Sielaff, who were stopped at US border crossings and held for weeks from US immigration authorities before he was allowed to fly home at his own expense.

This includes another German tourist who was stopped at Tijuana Crossing on January 25th. Jessica Brösche spent over six weeks, including a week in solitary confinement, a friend said.

On the Canadian border, a Wales backpacker spent almost three weeks in a detention center before flewing home this week. And a Canadian woman with a work visa held on the Tijuana border spent 12 days in custody before returning home last weekend.

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Sielaff, 25, and the others say it was never made clear why they themselves voluntarily go home after they were offered.

Pedro Rios, director of the US Mexico border program of the American Friends Service Committee, a non-profit organization that helps migrants, said in the 22 years that he had worked at the border.

“It is definitely unusual that these cases are so close together and the reason for the detention of these people makes no sense,” he said. “It does not justify the hideous treatment and diseases” that they endure.

“The only reason I see is that there is a much more passionate anti-immigrant atmosphere,” said Rios.

Of course, tourists from countries in which the USA need visas-many of them need non-western nation-sides long for difficulties to enter the USA

The US authorities did not answer an inquiry from the Associated Press for figures on how many tourists were recently held in detention institutions, or explained why they were not simply denied entry.

Weeklong Lockups fear fear of tourist trips to us

The incidents promote fear because the Trump administration prepares for a ban on travelers from some countries. Los Angeles noticed the “developing” travel policy of the states and sent a message this week and asked her students and employees born abroad to take the travel risks into account for the spring holidays.

The immigration and customs authority announced in an e -mail to the AP that Sielaff and Brösche, which was held for 45 days, were considered inadmissible by customs and border protection. This agency said that it cannot discuss details, but “if laws or visa conditions are violated, travelers may be detained and removed.” The agencies have not commented on the other cases.

As part of a program that was offered by a selected group of countries, both German tourists were primarily allowed in Europe and Asia, whose citizens can travel to the USA for up to 90 days without receiving a visa in advance. The applicants register online with the electronic system for travel operations.

But even if they are authorized to travel under this system, the US authorities have a broad discretion to refuse to enter. After the imprisonment, Great Britain and Germany updated their travel memories to draw people aware of the strict US border enforcement. The United Kingdom warned: “They could be arrested or detained if they violate the rules.”

Sielaff arrived in the USA on January 27th. He and Tyler decided to go to Tijuana for four days in mid -February because Tyler’s dog operated there and needed veterinary services. They thought they would enjoy a few tacos and make an entertaining journey out of it.

“Mexico is a wonderful and beautiful country that Lucas and I like to visit,” said Tyler.

They returned on February 18, only 22 days to the 90-day tourist permit from Sielaff.

When she drove up to the intersection, the US limits asked Sielaff aggressively: “Where are you going? Where do you live?” Tyler said.

“English is not Lucas’ mother tongue and so he said:” We go to Las Vegas “, and the agent says:” Oh, we caught her. You live in Las Vegas. You can’t do that, “said Tyler.

Sielaff was taken away for further survey. Tyler said she asked him to go with him, or if he could get a translator, and she was said that she should be calm, then removed from her car and tied up with handcuffs and chained to a bench. Her dog, which recovered from the operation, was left in the car.

Tyler was allowed to go after four hours, but said that she received no information about her fiance’s whereabouts.

Read more: Families are looking for relatives after hundreds who were taken on US immigration flights disappear from online locator

During the survey, Sielaff said that he had told the authorities that he had never lived in the United States and had no criminal history. He said he had received a full body search and ordered his cell phone and belongings to be handed over. He was put into a holding cell in which he slept on a bench for two days before being transferred to the Otay Mesa internment camp in San Diego.

There, he said, he shared a cell with eight others.

“You are angry, you are sad, you don’t know when you can get out,” said Sielaff. “You just don’t get any answers from anyone.”

Finally, he was told that he should get a direct flight to Germany and submit a confirmation number. In a hectic call from Sielaff, Tyler bought it for $ 2,744. He flew back on March 5.

The victims say that “an obvious abuse” of the power of the US limitation authorities

“What happened at the border was only an open abuse of the power of border patrol,” said Tyler.

Ashley Paschen agrees. She said she had learned from a Tikok video by Brösche, in which everyone in the San Diego area was asked for help after her family learned that she was held in the Otay Mesa Detention Center. Paschen visited her several times and said that her people had worked to get her out. Brosche flew home on March 11th.

“She is happy to be at home,” said Paschen. “She seems to be very relieved, if at all, but she doesn’t come back here soon.”

On February 26, a tourist from Wales from Wales, Becky Burke, a backpacker who traveled through North America, was stopped at the US border and was held on Facebook in a prison in a prison in a prison in a prison in Washington for almost three weeks. She returned home on Tuesday.

On March 3, the Canadian Jasmine Mooney, an actress and entrepreneur of a US work visa, was arrested at the Tijuana. She was released on Saturday, said her friend Brittany Kors.

Before Mooney’s publication, the British -Colombia Prime Minister David Eby and said certainly said: “It certainly increases the fear that … many Canadians about our relationship with the United States and the unpredictability of this administration and its actions.”

The prison terms are in the middle of legal battles for the arrests and deportations of other foreigners of the Trump government with valid Visa and Green cards, including a Palestinian activist who contributed to the fact that campus protests of the war were organized in Gaza.

Tyler plans to sue the US government.

Sielaff said that he and Tyler are now rethinking plans to hold their wedding in Las Vegas. He suffers nightmares and consider therapy to cope with the trauma.

“Nobody is safe to get to America as a tourist,” he said.

Associated Press Writer Rob Gillies reported from Toronto.