Another German tourist is in US deportation. He was held for two weeks before he was allowed to return to Germany.
The German Lucas Sielaff has returned to Germany after two weeks in US deportation. His entitlement to entry was revoked on the Mexican border, as the “Tagesanzeiger” reports. The US authorities apparently accused him of staying in the United States longer than allowed.
Sielaff, 25 years old and from Bad Bibra in Saxony-Anhalt, was arrested on February 18 at the San Ysidro border station. He had traveled to the USA with a tourist visa and had made a trip to Mexico with his fiance. According to his partner Lennon Tyler, there was a misunderstanding when he returned to the USA.
When asked where he lives, Sielaff answered that he lives in Las Vegas. In fact, only his fiance lives there while he is registered in Germany. His lack of knowledge of English led to a misinterpretation of the question, said Tyler.
The border officials are said to have held him at the border for two days before being transferred to the Otay Mesa Detention Center. According to the US immigration law, authorities can revoke a tourist visa despite prior granting if there are doubts about the legality of the entry. In such cases, however, travelers are usually only refused to enter, and they have to travel back with the next flight. It remains unclear why Sielaff instead came into deportation.
A similar case concerns the German tattoo artist Jessica Brösche, who also wanted to travel to the USA as a tourist and has been in custody in the same facility since the end of January. According to Jeff Joseph, President of the US lawyers’ association for immigration law, such a long remaining in a deportation institution is “extremely worrying”. As a rule, those affected could withdraw their application and immediately return to their home country. Brösche is expected to be deported back to Germany on Tuesday.
Lucas Sielaff was finally released after two weeks. He booked a flight ticket himself and flew from San Diego to Munich on March 6th. His fiance warned in a conversation with the “Tagesanzeiger” about traveling to the USA: “Don’t come here. Especially not with a tourist visa – and especially not about the Mexican border.” So far, the US authorities have not made any statement on Sielaff’s case.
In addition to the two Germans Brösche and Sielaff, US authorities have apparently also arrested a British tourist. According to her father, the Welsh woman Becky Burke was on the way from the USA to Canada on February 26. However, she was denied the crossing of the border to Canada due to a formal error.
When trying to return to the United States, the 28-year-old was arrested and put into deportation. The authorities suddenly accused her of working illegally in the United States. “I don’t understand why they have to lock up my daughter and put it in an orange jumpsuit while checking their papers,” said Burke’s father Paul Burke of the BBC.
Becky Burke can call her family with an iPad used under the detained jointly, but the contact does not work in the other direction. The family from the United Kingdom cannot transfer money to the United States.
The Welsh woman was insertable and immediately made an application for voluntary departure from the USA back to Wales, her father reports. The family is now supposed to be with a court – but the family does not yet know which and when is not yet known. The British consulate in San Francisco had also had no success with its efforts. Burke described the conditions in the deportation.
