I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks
902 comments
·March 19, 2025anonshadow
wraaath
GEO Group also operates similar facilities in Australia, and is publicly traded in the US stock market under the symbol GEO. For the quarter ending 12/31/2024, they had top line revenue of 608M, but pre-tax income came in at 24M, and carrying debt of 2.3B. Somehow with such thin profit margins, their stock is trading at a 4B market capitalization and carrying a 128 P/E (by comparison, Google carries a 20 P/E, Meta 24), i.e. "richly overvalued". It would be a damned shame if Australia started re-evaluating those contracts. Oh - and some of the risk factors that GEO notes in their last 10-K annual filing:
Efforts to reduce the U.S. federal deficit could adversely affect our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.
We partner with a limited number of governmental customers who account for a significant portion of our revenues. The loss of, or a significant decrease in revenues from, these customers could seriously harm our financial condition and results of operations.
We are subject to the loss of our facility management contracts, due to terminations, non-renewals or competitive re-bids, which could adversely affect our results of operations and liquidity, including our ability to secure new facility management contracts from other government customers.
and also - this amazing level of self-awareness:
Adverse publicity may negatively impact our ability to retain existing contracts and obtain new contracts.
TheNewsIsHere
10-Ks are one of the last places to find actual honesty in business. We partially have SOX to thank for that.
wraaath
You still do see plenty of trash in the 10-K's with all of the massaged messaging, but yeah.
tim333
I don't get the " tiny, freezing cement cell with bright fluorescent lights" and a foil blanket thing though. Why be so nasty? If you are making a business improperly detaining people it would only be likely to cause outrage and get it shut down?
I'm curious as a non American why no one stops this. I mean presumably both political parties have not bothered. Do people in the US think it's ok? I think if that stuff happened in the UK there would be a lot of protests.
casenmgreen
> I don't get the " tiny, freezing cement cell with bright fluorescent lights" and a foil blanket thing though.
It's cheaper, would be my guess.
These conditions though, it reads like the Standford experiment.
This is properly tantamount to prisoner abuse.
johnnyanmac
A lot of America (even parts of the left) still fall for the "hard on crime" narrative. They assume the sentences are just, and thus bad people deserve the worst. Even if our constitution has a clause agaisnt "cruel and unusual punishment".
never-mind that we've had decades of initiatives using such prisons as a form of soft racism, something so longstanding that is publicly declassified information. And people still don't care.
intended
They would go further, and argue that it’s the people who argue against this narrative, are supporters of criminals.
I.e. - It’s gone from “you are too soft on crime”, to “you are supporting criminals.”
closewith
> I think if that stuff happened in the UK there would be a lot of protests.
A lot worse happened in UK prisons in Northern Ireland and people in Great Britain widely cheered it on. Target the right minorities and there'd be no shortage of supporters in Westminster.
bigfatkitten
> If you are making a business improperly detaining people it would only be likely to cause outrage and get it shut down?
On the contrary. In the US in particular, there is a large and outspoken segment of the voting base that love to see this sort of thing.
femiagbabiaka
Simple. It doesn't cause (genuine) outrage and it doesn't get them shut down. AOC for example, protested these private prisons during Trump's first term and went silent on them when Biden didn't close them.
runarberg
Here is a tweet from soon after Biden took office in January 2021:
> People must understand the depth of what’s happening here: the President of the United States has ordered a halt to deportations. ICE, a federal agency, is refusing to comply.
> There’s no reforming this rogue dept. It’s time for a new, just vision.
https://x.com/AOC/status/1354211627940384768
A month later she was criticizing DHS for still having Patriot act powers, and lumped ICE with the same criticism:
> People have been writing about the deeply concerning issues with the structure of DHS for a long time.
> This is from 3 years before I was even elected.
> It’s not “fringe” to ask why FEMA & ICE are in the same Dept operation. Or question ICE’s operations
https://x.com/AOC/status/1364619004921413633
A day earlier she called for the abolition of ICE:
> It’s only 2 mos into this admin & our fraught, unjust immigration system will not transform in that time.
> That’s why bold reimagination is so impt.
> DHS shouldn’t exist, agencies should be reorganized, ICE gotta go, ban for-profit detention, create climate refugee status & more.
This one is very apt given OP.
https://x.com/AOC/status/1364349732760518657
She continued, this on is in April 2021:
> A lot of people who are just now suddenly horrified at the dehumanizing conditions at our border are the same folks who dehumanize immigrants + helped build these cages in the 1st place.
> When we tried to stop this infrastructure over a year ago,we were overruled by BOTH parties.
> Fact is a lot of the politicians crying right now don’t work to solve either.
> They vote to grow ICE + CBP cages and they do everything to avoid addressing the root: US foreign policy and interventionism that destabilizes regions, the climate crisis, and unjust economic policy.
https://x.com/AOC/status/1377652851191787532
Your statement that Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez stopped protesting these private prisons while Biden was in office is simply factually wrong. And it was not hard to check it.
dfox
Cost optimization.
peterlada
[flagged]
qwertox
CoreCivic & Co. then sounds like a good target for a DOGE analysis.
johnnyanmac
follow the money as always. Same reason why US has the highest incarceration date. Incentivize people to be put in cells, and they'll optimize for it.
Hence why I'd rather revamp the incentives towards punishing recidivism and completely nailing petty imprisonments.
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bojangleslover
Makes complete sense to me. That's how every other business works. Number of detainees is a mostly linear input (aside from the real estate) to opex.
snapcaster
This is horrible and scary, why border guards are even giving the authority to revoke visas is beyond me. When people think about giving cops/guards authority like this they need to be picturing the dumbest bully from their grade school. That's who is going to be using the power
pjc50
It's Team Grade School Bullies all the way up, from the voters to the representatives. Plus decades of pro-cop propaganda, especially against following the rules.
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throwawaymaths
I'm about to travel to canada on work and as i understand it the last step in the visa is an interview at the port of entry where the border guard can decide if I get to stay or not.
poulsbohemian
When I went through it years ago, it was mostly about making sure you had all your paperwork in order - had the company sponsoring you provided the relevant information regarding the role and why you were needed, did your resume and experience match at all with the work being performed, etc. Basically I showed up with a list of documents and a very nice border guard looked it over and said welcome to Canada. Each time I traveled up there for work, the border guards were polite and professional. Each time I traveled home, I got pulled aside for advanced screening like I was a drug mule. Just loved all the America trivia questions and deep dives into the history of where I live, just so they could feel good about their jobs.
aendruk
> Each time I traveled up there for work, the border guards were polite and professional. Each time I traveled home, I got pulled aside […]
Interesting, it was the opposite for me, US citizen with CA work permit circa 2016. CBP seemed to not care while CBSA was often irrationally aggressive and suspicious. The closest thing I got to an explanation once after being freed was “We just like you” with a grin.
j_timberlake
Imagine taking a >$500 flight to Japan or South Korea only to be told by the border guard there that you can't enter, even when no rules were broken. And then the flight home is even more expensive. It happens sometimes.
wahnfrieden
canada just revised the rules to allow border agents to revoke your visa / work permit, fyi. so look out. it might be better to go during "normal" hours and at major ports of entry to try to get a more senior officer.
blindriver
Every country is like this. Israel is the scariest but I remember decades ago crossing into Switzerland by train and in the middle of the night being woken up by border guards with barking German shepherds asking for my passport. I have so many stories it’s funny. On top of the other stories I’ve already posted, my friend who is Canadian drove into Buffalo for dinner and on his way back, they asked him where are you going. He answered “Canada” and they detained him and pulled apart his car looking for drugs. He was detained for hours until they let him go.
nsavage
As a Canadian living near the border (as many Canadians are!), I would often drive into the US for shopping. There are a number of towns that seem dedicated to serving Canadians, like Watertown, NY. I've found that often the US border guards would be much nicer than the Canadian border guards, probably because the Canadians are the ones that need to deal with the customs rules (Canadians aren't trying to smuggle their new purchases back to the US without paying tax!).
I haven't been on a shopping trip like that in a while though, and I find it hard to believe I'll ever do it again now. I feel bad for Watertown, but with the tariffs and the risk of detention, its not worth it.
thelittlenag
That's an interesting anecdote. I grew up on a border town, but as a US Citizen often going up into Cananda. Without fail it was always the US border guards who were the jerks (I went to school with their kids!) and the Canadian guards who were gracious and courteous.
Given that I've NEVER had what I would call a great interaction with a US border guard, it warms my heart to hear that at least they could be kind to some one ;-)
ilamont
The Walmarts and gas stations near the Northern NY border used to have a lot of Ontario and Quebec plates. I've seen reports that February traffic across the bridges was down ~15% in February YoY.
dowager_dan99
don't forget a sub-70 cent dollar. Pretty rough to pay that sort of premium and THEN maybe GST and duty on your purchases. It's not the same as a generation ago when you had to go to the US to get their chocolate bars...
pjc50
There's a wide spectrum between being aggressive about asking for your passport and detention for weeks. While it's a slippery slope the extent to which it happens, and the extent to which prejudice is involved, varies a lot.
blindriver
Are you suggesting that Swiss border patrol would have been more forgiving if I were illegally entering their country?
ikerrin1
Canadian here. I recall in 1991 being woken by Swiss border guards in a train carriage full of Germans and Italians. After inspecting their passports they shined the light in my face. They saw my maple leaf on my bag and asked “Est-tu Canadian” bleary eyed I replied “oui” and they said,”it’s fine, we don’t need to see your passport”. Of course 9 years later I was thrown off a train to Czechoslovakia” because they changed the visa requirements at the last minute and my “Let’s Go” guidebook was out of date.
Oh being young, stupid and crossing boarders without a clue.
ssijak
"Switzerland by train and in the middle of the night being woken up by border guards with barking German shepherds asking for my passport"
What is exactly wrong here? They checked your passport and went on their way, that is how it works.
ethbr1
It was hilarious seeing the difference between the French and Swiss border guards on train rides.
French: laughing and talking, checking everyone's passports
Swiss: eyes scanning the car, papers please
dowager_dan99
Why do you need guard dogs to check a passport? Is it the most effective system to do sweep-checks in the middle of the night? Why not check as you're boarding or de-training? What happens if something is wrong or not aligned? Is a stressful situation the best way to conduct routine processes for anybody?
HOW shit goes down is really important. When systems reduce people to cogs in a machine they lose empathy and personal responsibility. This is why we end up with guards who know nothing, treat people like cattle, and are "just doing their job". It does not lead to good results.
blindriver
Nothing wrong. The previous poster claimed that the US Border patrol was excessively scary but my point is this happens everywhere around the world.
yerushalayim
Scary can be an effective deterrent against unsavory adversaries.
seec
Of course, it's kind of the point of having borders and control, if they let anyone in without verifying, it's not even worth having a border.
Going from France to UK is like that, and before Shenzen, it was like that from EU country to EU country. When I was young, we had to wait for 2 hours with my parents while they checked everything was in order for a Spain border crossing (we were in a big RV so it makes sense).
People on HN have very soft views of the world, being too idealistic libertarian or some sort of socialist derived ideology. Most people may not be criminal but you have to process everyone crossing the border as if because otherwise it's pointless and you will never catch the criminals...
bergie
The only border experience I've ever had that was worse than US was Canada. And I've traveled quite extensively.
BizarreByte
The specifics of this case are largely irrelevant to me, the fact is I am scared to cross the border into the US at this point.
For the foreseeable future I will not be travelling to the US for any reason. Canada is safe and there is nothing in the US worth risking my freedom for. I will remain here and I will continue to avoid travel to America as well as spending money on American goods/services.
transcriptase
The specifics are seemingly irrelevant to everyone. She had her work visa revoked at the Canadian border because her company in California was allegedly making THC beverages in violation of federal law. She was told to visit a consulate to straighten it out.
Instead she flew to Mexico and tried to enter there with new and obviously fake job offer. She was treated like anyone else would, but it’s international news because she’s a pretty white woman.
BizarreByte
Again I do not care. The US has done more than enough to instill fear in Canadians like me.
Would you travel to a country where its leader is constantly making threats against your country, some as serious as repeatedly calling for your annexation? The current US administration has made it very clear how it feels about me and my countrymen.
I don't consider the US safe and I do not need someone to americansplain to me. You aren't exceptional, you're a threat.
transcriptase
I am Canadian. I’ve been to the U.S. a hundred times and nothing has really changed to make me blink at continuing to go. I have friends and family who work and vacation there, and it’s the same for them as it’s always been.
The Canadian media and Canadian businesses have been drumming up fear and patriotic rhetoric to drive domestic industries. That’s great - the last 10 years of “Canada is a post-national state with no culture or identity” narrative that Trudeau championed wasn’t doing us any favours anyway.
Trump may be a buffoon and what he’s doing is clearly not acceptable with respect to Canada, but to fear visiting or considering the U.S. unsafe when it’s objectively far safer than visiting any all-inclusive hotspot in the Caribbean that Canadians are still flocking to like they do every winter is, well, removed from reality.
somedude895
You're saying that you're not actually interested in discussing the post you're commenting on, you just want to use the comment section to rant. Got it.
SpicyLemonZest
It's international news because she was detained for 2 weeks with no explanation. If they had simply booted her back across the border - which I thought was the default in cases like this, where someone's applying in an orderly manner at a port of entry - few people would have cared.
hattmall
>If they had simply booted her back across the border
They can't. And this is entirely her fault for trying to enter through Mexico. Telling them she will return to Canada isn't helpful because what are they supposed to do? Tell her ok, go get an Uber to the Airport and just let her go? Mexico would not issue her a VISA either so her only option is US or Mexican Detention. When the agent said "You aren't a criminal" is when she saw that Mexico had denied her re-entry and she was flagged for detention.
Now, I mean, personally I think it would be fine to just let her go because who really cares, but the point of rules/laws/procedures is for them to be followed.
Why did she go to Mexico first? Because she was denied entry in Canada and thought there would be less scrutiny at the Southern Border for Canadians. She was correct, because it worked the first time when she would have likely been denied at the Canadian border for her second crossing, but her initial denial flagged her.
I feel for her, and the situation sucks, but she 100% knows she's trying to game the system, and that's not even bringing up the issues of her self-sponsored TN visa which is dubious.
causal
Disingenuous take, did you even read the article?
1) She was not detained in connection with any crime whatsoever. At no point was her company's use of THC stated as a reason for detainment.
2) You have invented the idea that her second job was fake. If it were, then fraud could have been a crime and reason for detainment- but again, the article makes it clear no crime was charged or cited.
3) You are right that plenty of non-white people are also going through this. I wish that was also enough to motivate people to care.
The point is that removing due process for anyone is a threat to everyone. It could be you next. You might think, "Not if I'm a citizen and not a criminal" - but the whole point of due process is getting the opportunity to prove that you are in fact a citizen and not a criminal. That right is eroding.
apwell23
After a long interrogation, the officer told me it seemed “shady” and that my visa hadn’t been properly processed. He claimed I also couldn’t work for a company in the US that made use of hemp – one of the beverage ingredients.
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mahkeiro
Yes because more cases are happening everyday: https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2025/03/19/etat...
tiniuclx
What about the new job offer makes you think it is fake?
transcriptase
You run a company in LA. Your visa is revoked. You show up at a different border shortly after with a novel job offer. Is it a genuine job offer or are you going back to run your company?
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foogazi
> She was treated like anyone else would
How is it OK to treat everyone like that ?
seec
Exactly. From her own story you can also infer that pretty much everyone who was detained with her was in fact illegal. Nobody cares about them because they don't have the reach of this white woman; not that anyone would care, because they can't make up a bullshit story to pretend that they got unfairly detained.
It may not seem right, but enforcing laws is kind of the point of having borders and cops and things like that. I'm amazed how many people are complaining.
This woman is clearly shady and got what she deserved and that's that.
HideousKojima
>The specifics of this case are largely irrelevant to me, the fact is I am scared to cross the border into the US at this point.
"I don't know Homer Simpson. I never met Homer Simpson or had any contact with him, but-- I'm sorry. I-- I can't go on."
"That's okay. Your tears say more than real evidence ever could."
BrandoElFollito
I traveled to the US (from my country -France- and many others) for 12 years. About a trip every month. The last time was 10 years ago.
I never had any problems (outside the horrible behaviour of border officers who show you that you are not welcome). I was stopped once by a policeman when I did an illegal car maneuver (which is tolerated in France), and when he realized I was a tourist with family, he just said, "Be careful, have a nice trip."
Today I am seriously considering never going to the US anymore because it looks like it is not a good destination anymore. I may be wrong though, I hope.
gs17
> outside the horrible behaviour of border officers who show you that you are not welcome
They've always (in my life, which is largely post 9/11) done that to US citizens too. Going into Canada it was "where are you going to? the beach, eh? have a nice day!", coming back seemed to be performed under the suspicion that our passports were fake and our car was made out of drugs. Despite doing nothing wrong, we were always afraid of getting in trouble because a border agent felt like it.
dowager_dan99
As a Canadian travelling throughout much of the world, border controls aside from the US always seem much more concerned with imported goods (tax collection and protecting agriculture, etc) than imported people.
rsanek
never experienced this as a us citizen and I travel often. usually it is a polite "welcome home", otherwise it's a bored "ok you're good"
riizade
I got a light interrogation as a US citizen. For the record, I have Global Entry, NEXUS, and TSA Pre-Check.
I handed the border agent my US passport and the conversation went like this
"why are you entering the country?"
"I live here"
"do you have legal status in the US?"
"I'm a citizen, you're holding my passport"
"have you ever overstayed a visa in the US in the past?"
"I was born here, so no"
"do you intend to do any work while you're in the US?"
"yes, I'm a US citizen and I have a job"
I didn't get pulled off to the side or anything, it was just standard questioning at entry processing when flying in, but it was just bizarre
the border agent kept looking me up and down suspiciously like I was hiding something, but he had my passport the whole time
even when I got questioned on my way to Canada (I would've stopped me too), they were much nicer about the whole process, it's an air of "we're just double checking cuz making a mistake here would be real bad, but as long as everything's legit, no worries, I hope you have a nice stay in Canada"
entering the US the vibe is "you're a violent criminal and it's my job to ask you questions until you slip up and admit that fact, the US is magnanimous for allowing you to touch our great country's land with your disgusting feet, and you should remember that every day you're here or we'll detain you so you won't forget again"
I'm a little surprised you've only had positive experiences.
gs17
Are you flying or driving? These were at land borders in Michigan, maybe they're more strict when you try to bring in a whole vehicle instead of a few suitcases that have gone through inspections.
johnnyanmac
YMMV on so many factors. Which border, how you look and carry yourself, your vehicle or airline, etc.
dhsysusbsjsi
I've already made the decision not to go to the US again for the foreseeable future.
nicbou
Same. The president is repeatedly threatening to annex my country. I was already avoiding the US because TSA is creepy, but now I'm actively divesting from it.
BizarreByte
Same for me as well. I've also gone as far as moving any paying business away from the US. I have completely moved off paid US services as of about a month ago to Canadian or EU equivalents.
apwell23
thank you. curious whats making you so emotional about it though ? why so angry?
dowager_dan99
I cancelled a vacation to Arizona last month. It makes political AND economic sense. Now I just need a reliable source of winter greens...
greatpatton
Same, will not risk my mental health for a trip to the US.
apwell23
[flagged]
rayiner
The U.S. is great. It's probably not apparent from Europe how crazy the situation got in the U.S. The number of illegal border crossings on the EU in 2023 was about 380,000: https://www.statista.com/statistics/454775/number-of-illegal.... The last few years, we have been having 150,000-300,000 per month: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0jp4xqx2z3o. And the EU has a much bigger population (330 million versus 450 million).
In 2017, Pew estimated that the EU had peaked around 5 million illegal immigrants: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/11/13/europes-unauth....
IN 2018, a Yale study estimated the U.S. had around 22 million illegal immigrants: https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/yale-study-finds-twic....
France during the same period was estimated to have 300-400k illegal immigrants: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/11/13/four-co....
We have 10 times as many illegal immigrants per capita as France does.
account42
I'd be careful comparing statistics like this between jurisdictions. What might be counted as a "illegal immigrant" is likely different between the EU and US.
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cship2
Same has being happening in UK for quite sometimes post 911. The facilities looks very similar. Some one line Cornell Correction must be making a killing in US.
yimby2001
You travelled to the US every once a month for 10 years? 10 years ago? and now you’re considering not going back buddy you already stopped coming
BrandoElFollito
No, I took a break with extensive travelling and now that my kids are older I am getting back to that.
Spending money in a country that obviously is not happy to see me is not likely to happen. We went for the rest of the world for now.
ThePowerOfFuet
"Seriously considering"? Êtes-vous fou ? Restez en Europe !
blindriver
Yes. This is the reality of how it is. It’s unfair that this woman was caught in this but CBP have ultimate power crossing the border can be scary.
My friend got her visa stripped and given a 10 year ban under Obama because of jokes in her text messages about a GC marriage. She didn’t get thrown in jail but she was refused entry back into the US and had to get someone to sell all her stuff while she flew back to her home country.
Most of you have no idea about how life is because you’re probably citizens but this is the reality at the border. It’s even worse in other countries.
Someone I know is from Australia and she said if you overstay your visa they track you down, arrest you and send you to jails outside of Australia mainland until you are eventually deported. Every country treats their border extremely strictly.
CORRECTION: I pinged my friend and I was wrong. They arrest them but don’t send to offshore jails. Those are for illegal immgrants that arrive on boats.
ssijak
"It’s even worse in other countries."
It's not. I take you are comparing to western countries. If you have a valid visa and behave even remotely normal to the border agents you will have no issues. Only in the USA some border agents have the attitude of "I'm gonna get you" or making you feel unwelcome for no reason. Hell, even in "authoritarian" countries like UAE or Quatar I never experience anything but pleasant interactions on the border.
01HNNWZ0MV43FF
> Hell, even in "authoritarian" countries like UAE or Quatar I never experience anything but pleasant interactions on the border.
Wikipedia seems to indicate I couldn't go to the UAE because I'm transgender https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBTQ_rights_by_country_or_ter...
otikik
Unfortunately that table has already started changing for the worse on the particular case of the United States :(
Be strong.
dowager_dan99
>> If you have a valid visa and behave even remotely normal to the border agents you will have no issues.
This is the crux IMO: it should be an OR not an AND. Having to behave "remotely normal" where this is determined solely at the discretion of the TSA is impossible.
account42
[flagged]
blindriver
You are ignorant about how life is crossing into other countries. In the 1990s, my friend who is a white Canadian drove into Buffalo for dinner with his family, and on his way back the Canadian border patrol asked him where he was going. He answered “Canada” instead of Toronto and based on that they detained him for hours and ripped apart his car.
Just recently a woman from the UK was denied entry into Canada and because of that was denied entry back into the US and found herself in the same mess as the person in the article.
This happens all the time, you just don’t hear about it until the news decides to make a thing about it.
ssijak
"woman from the UK was denied entry into Canada and because of that was denied entry back into the US"
You are proving my point, she was again detained by USA for 3 weeks when it could have been resolved much better and faster.
jkaplowitz
> Someone I know is from Australia and she said if you overstay your visa they track you down, arrest you and send you to jails outside of Australia mainland until you are eventually deported. Every country treats their border extremely strictly.
Honestly, this kind of abusive approach is predominant among certain of the major anglophone countries only, at least within the world of fully developed democratic countries, likely for reasons of shared media ownership/viewership and overlapping cultural/political attitudes but I don’t know for sure.
Yes, several other fully developed democratic countries do of course treat their borders strictly in the sense of who’s allowed in and under what circumstances, but not with these kinds of abusive treatment as a common pattern. And I do frequently read news in three languages plus a fourth occasionally, so I don’t think this is just me being biased toward news from countries that share of my native language of English.
eagleislandsong
> I do frequently read news in three languages plus a fourth occasionally
Impressive. Can you speak or understand by listening these languages as well? And if I may ask out of curiosity, which languages are they?
jkaplowitz
Yes, though the degree varies by language. I'm a native US English speaker, usefully bilingual in French at least when things are being spoken relatively standardly, and have partial degrees of proficiency with German (hello from Berlin) and Spanish which nobody would confuse for fluency but which are still useful levels of each language.
stephen_g
The offshore detention we do here in Australia is abominable, but it’s not accurate to say it’s “if you overstay your visa”, it’s generally only used for people who can’t be deported for whatever reason (usually around asylum claims, being stateless, etc.).
If you just overstay a visa you will just be deported fairly quickly, you aren’t going to go into offshore detention…
That’s not a defence of the practice, offshore detention should absolutely be abolished, it’s just worth being accurate.
blindriver
My friend went to University of NSW early 2000s and she said when her friends disappeared for a while, they knew they were caught by the border patrol and deported because of some sort of overstayed visas. They all knew how aggressive Australia was at enforcing visa violations. Maybe they changed the process since then but she said everyone knew they sent visa overstayers to the offshore jails to scare them and send a message to everyone else.
CORRECTION: you are right. I got my story mixed up so I was wrong. It’s illegal immigrants who arrived by boat that were sent to offshore jails. My friends friend was sent to a regular jail. He had a student visa and stopped going to uni so he got arrested and deported because his visa got cancelled.
jon_adler
AFAIK, the Australian system doesn’t operate like this for visa overstays. Your friend may be confused with asylum applications for those who arrive by boat (which isn’t often used in practice).
https://www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/pdfs/law/kaldor/factshee...
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blindriver
Yes they arrest them and throw them in jail but not offshore jails. I was wrong about that, I checked with my friend.
account42
Detention for overstaying your visa is pretty reasonable. That's not something you do on accident.
account42
> Most of you have no idea about how life is because you’re probably citizens but this is the reality at the border.
The reality is that you can be denied entry for pretty dubious reasons, but most people with a valid visa/visa exemption who don't do sketchy shit like the woman in TFA don't get randomly denied or even interrogated beyond the basic purpose of visit questions. All my entries into the US (as well as other countries I have been to) have been pleasant except for the long queues.
> Every country treats their border extremely strictly.
Unfortunately not every country. Much of the EU has gotten used to lax borders.
Strict enforcement of borders is mostly in countries that get lots of people trying to enter illegally or overstay their visa. E.g. those with neighbors that are significantly less well off.
ThePowerOfFuet
>because of jokes in her text messages about a [Green Card] marriage
Let this be a lesson to all those who think it's fine to unlock their phone and hand it to cops.
tunapizza
It's either that, or get denied. Interestingly enough, however, it's quite easy to "prepare" for a phone search in advance since border agents can only search the actual content of your phone. You just need to delete apps and reinstall them after you passed the border. Their "advanced" forensics tools would likely find traces of those deleted apps, though.
"CBP officers can only search and access data stored on the device’s hard drive or operating system. The search does not include data that is stored remotely in a Cloud format. The officer must ensure that data and network connections are disabled before starting the search, for example, by asking the traveler to turn the device into airplane mode and disabling Wi-Fi."
[https://hselaw.com/news-and-information/legalcurrents/prepar...]
bloopernova
I'm not sure what customs and border patrol would do if you refused to unlock your phone for them. I doubt they would just let you go.
blindriver
You would be detained and eventually denied entry. You have no rights when you cross the border no matter which country you're in. China and other countries have just as draconian enforcement.
account42
ESTA applications ask for your social media accounts even before you get to border patrol. You can of course omit them but that may or may not backfire. I have only ever listed GitHub since I don't really use anything else they have in the drop down.
gorbachev
"It’s even worse in other countries."
I imagine it would be, if you visited South Sudan.
It is not "even worse" in any of the western countries. The border control people in most western countries are actually friendly. They are polite, sometimes even, gasp, smile at you.
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account42
> It is not "even worse" in any of the western countries. The border control people in most western countries are actually friendly. They are polite, sometimes even, gasp, smile at you.
That has also been my experience with the US. YMMV of course.
TriangleEdge
I've been issued a five year bar for visiting someone in the US while unemployed. My immigration lawyer told me it's the weakest case he had ever seen. It took two years for the appeal to be approved. I had worked in the US on TN visas twice before, and never overstayed. It felt like they were just trying to meet a quota.
Edit: I had applied for a GC years before this happened, so I think the officer thought I didn't want to leave. This was not the case however. The case had been approved but not processed.
leereeves
When did that happen? If it took two years for the appeal to be approved, it must have happened a while ago.
TriangleEdge
About three years ago. My lawyer told me it used to take one year, but got bumped to two recently.
mgh2
Do you care to share more details? What questions did they ask and what were your replies?
TriangleEdge
The officers were "dirty". They brought me in a room to do an interrogation where one officer asked questions and the other took notes on an old computer. I literally told them: "I am not going to stay past my return date" and the officer asking questions told the officer taking notes to not write that down. They asked who my parents were, how much money I had, my employment history, what I did in the US while working on my previous TN, if I was in danger, etc.. They asked if I was applying for jobs and I said yes because I was unemployed. They then asked if the jobs were in the US and I said I would accept another TN job if I could. They call the process a "sworn statement".
For those of you who go through that, don't agree to the statement if they modified it, like mine. There's no cameras or recording devices so they can be dirty, and they abuse that fact. You have no rights at all at the border, and your assumptions on decency and honesty are not correct.
My assumption to this day is that they thought I was trying to work illegally, but this is not the case.
gruez
>They asked if I was applying for jobs and I said yes because I was unemployed. They then asked if the jobs were in the US and I said I would accept another TN job if I could. They call the process a "sworn statement".
So you told them that you were there for visiting/tourism, and they alleged you were coming to the US to work, on the basis that you're applying to jobs in the US?
ElevenLathe
I would like to remind everyone assuming that some kind of hassles at the border are normal and necessary (even if the specifics of this one make you mad) that this is NOT the case.
Our current international regime of widespread passports, residency permits, visas, and border checks is barely 100 years old. Even in my lifetime (pre-9/11) the US-Canada border was a passport-free affair: just show the border guard your drivers' license (if you were the driver) and tell them you had nothing to declare -- they knew you were lying but didn't care.
It is not an iron law that international borders have to be dystopian "papers please" civil-liberties-optional free-fire zones. There is little point in the US policing either land border at all, but hassling NAFTA citizens (aka Canadians and Mexicans) traveling on business is especially absurd. A Schengen-style regime in North America (it's only THREE countries, should be pretty easy!) is way beyond overdue, but it seems like we're instead headed in the opposite direction as fast as we possibly can.
Open borders are the default state of the world. Anything interfering with our ability to travel should be in response to a specific, real problem. Instead, we've handed the door keys to our whole country to a handful of cops and private contractors who get paid more when they hassle us more.
reportgunner
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
stewx
My takeaway from this is that laws and rules don't matter if the officials on the ground are incompetent, ignorant, and have contempt for you.
There is a lot of unnecessary cruelty and lack of due process in this story.
freehorse
I sort of disagree. There _is_ a process, which optimises for holding people as long as possible for the prison industrial complex to make money. When you privatise these kind of social services, this is what happens. This is not due to a few officials on the ground that just happened by chance to be "incompetent, ignorant, and have contempt for you". As the article concludes,
> The reality became clear: Ice detention isn’t just a bureaucratic nightmare. It’s a business. These facilities are privately owned and run for profit.
> Companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group receive government funding based on the number of people they detain, which is why they lobby for stricter immigration policies. It’s a lucrative business: CoreCivic made over $560m from Ice contracts in a single year. In 2024, GEO Group made more than $763m from Ice contracts.
> The more detainees, the more money they make. It stands to reason that these companies have no incentive to release people quickly. What I had experienced was finally starting to make sense.
ethbr1
It's a couple things.
One is the private prison industry being incentivized to hold as many people as possible.
But there's also a bureaucracy (ICE and State) with little to no pressure to perform better for this particular population (because who cares about criminals?).
Consequently, you get an industry that's perfectly happy to warehouse people... coupled with a slow and ineffective government controlling the keys to their release.
Private detention facilities should be banned.
But the government also needs KPIs with consequences tied to them. E.g. average holding time, average response time to filing, etc. And leaders get fired / budgets cut if targets are missed.
freehorse
At this point, I am not sure if we can exclude that lobbying from private prisons does not affect the way bureaucracy runs, from the stage of legislation to the point of how said legislation is executed. Thus I am not sure that these two are in truly independent.
But otherwise I agree; even in places where detention facilities are not privatised, bureaucracy can still pose a lot of issues because, as you say, "who cares about criminals", or because certain traits are overrepresented in the group of people who take up these jobs.
derbOac
Well, now those incentives work in the opposite direction. There have been many reports of Trump being livid that his deportation quotas aren't being met.
When the incentive is a quota rather than just adjudication, you end up with what's going on now.
almostgotcaught
> There _is_ a process, which optimises for holding people as long as possible for the prison industrial complex to make money
"due process" is what you are due - it is what is afforded to you by the 4th amendment and habeus corpus. Op is correct.
pjc50
However, the US has long been very clear: constitutional rights only apply to citizens. US law is perfectly happy with arbitrary brutality towards non-citizens.
(ECHR is different on this, which has caused a lot of controversy in the UK from people who want to be arbitrarily brutal towards non-citizens)
freehorse
I was disagreeing that it is just a matter of some officials doing a bad job. And in any case it is not about who is right or wrong, OP is right in identifying that there is no due process, and I did not disagree with that.
tdb7893
To some extent this has always been the case in the US fairly broadly. From living in cities in the Midwest I've heard stories from people I know and their interactions with police and luckily the stories aren't this bad but they are in the same vein of incompetence and cruelty with little recourse.
01HNNWZ0MV43FF
There's that proverb "You might have the right of way, but the semi truck will still kill you". We might have the Constitution, but it apparently is enforced on an honor system. (Plus non-citizens don't have any rights, so I guess they aren't inalienable human rights after all, eyeroll)
gadders
[flagged]
01HNNWZ0MV43FF
It's certainly gotten worse, which is why I hope people will vote in every election they can vote in.
mdp2021
> This incompetence has only happened since
Can we be sure? Do we have stats?
If you look at international press, horror stories happen everywhere, semi-certified (the press from Country C diffident against Country Y will publish if they have a warning piece). The issue is telling the exception from the norm and similar.
gadders
Yes, and exceptions from the norm get extra publicity when it fits a press narrative.
sejje
That comment was heavy sarcasm
motorest
> But they were all perfectly competent and infallible under Biden.
It's clear that you're trying very hard to fabricate assertions and muddy the debate. If it helps clarify, until January 20th they were just as abusive and shitty, but with Trump imposing a political mandate to ramp up their abusive and shitty behavior then of course the abusive and shitty behavior will ramp up. Is there something specific that you don't understand?
codexb
The San Diego port of entry is the busiest land border crossing in the western hemisphere. The takeaway here should be that the resources to handle immigration along the southern border are insufficient.
TheCoelacanth
Imprisoning someone takes far more resources than any other way of handling them, so I don't see how lack of resources can be blamed here.
codexb
If you’re deporting someone, they have to be in custody. They have to deport her to Canada, not Mexico. They likely deal with many other countries and have to arrange for transportation back to all those countries.
I don’t think anyone would have a problem if she was processed promptly and quickly deported or if the confinement accommodations were nicer. That’s purely a resources problem.
righthand
This country is sick in the head. We actively eschew healthcare for temporary satisfaction that we are locking some minority group up. Then the defense spend lobby comes back around riling people up so that they can make money and people can have temporary satisfaction that they are safe.
danso
> A woman asked me for the name of someone they could contact on my behalf. In moments like this, you realize you don’t actually know anyone’s phone number anymore. By some miracle, I had recently memorized my best friend Britt’s number because I had been putting my grocery points on her account.
I definitely would be screwed in this situation. Time to remember by sibling’s number
elicash
Reminds me of doing civil disobedience -- you write your attorney's phone number on your arm beforehand.
betaby
> your attorney's phone
Right, people have attorneys. Very common thing ... nowhere?
01HNNWZ0MV43FF
You _should_.
[Lawyer, Passport, Locksmith, Gun by DeviantOllam](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ihrGNGesfI)
motorest
> Right, people have attorneys. Very common thing ... nowhere?
By the number of people asserting that this sort of abusive from border patrol agents runs rampant and people just need to be ok with being deported when trying to lawfully enter the US, what leads you to believe that lawyering up in preparation to enter the US is unheard of?
littlestymaar
Nobody does civil disobedience by themselves: you do it as a group and yes the group better find an attorney beforehand …
richev
Related: "The case for boycotting the United States" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/18/us-tru...
dkd903
This is what main stream media propaganda looks like.
> Dr Alawieh had traveled last month to Lebanon, her home country, to visit relatives.
No, she did not; she attended the funeral of a leader of a US-designated terror organization.
rgreeko42
Oh, well if DHS says so on X The Everything Site it must be true
yks
In a blink of an eye Americans went from "the government is out there to oppress you" to "if the government says the undisclosed people it snatches from the streets and deports are criminals, it must be true".
hattmall
It's not disputed.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/17/us/brown-university-doctor-de...
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hartator
> to help launch an American brand of health tonics called Holy! Water
> contained hemp
The actual company name is hempandhoneynj? That sells “ HIGH THC IS FOR EXPERIENCED CANNABIS USERS”.
I don’t think weed is legal yet on the federal level. There is some grey ares are on the THC vs weed classification, but note that also harsher laws - like dealing drugs - could have applied here.
diggan
The THC is derived from legal hemp it seems, which is why they call it "Hemp" and not "Cannabis" in the article, I'm guessing.
> Our Delta 9 THC is legal according to federal law and many state laws. All Delta 9 THC extract being offered is 100% derived from legal hemp and does not contain more than 0.3% ∆9THC.
https://www.hempandhoneynj.com/product/holy-water-euphoric-k...
So no, "harsher laws" couldn't apply here, as there are no scheduled drugs involved in either the process or final product.
hartator
That’s their claim on their website.
How is it different from a local dealer: trust me cops won’t care?
Federal law allowance on that 3% rule is very very narrow. And it’s highly likely that the THC is being re-enrich post haverst which then it is still not legal.
“Harsher laws” are pretty harsh. Even if no violence just “easing distribution”, it’s a max sentence of 10-year.
diggan
I dunno, if we start making up things like "She said she isn't a criminal, but what if she actually launders money" and not take the article for what it says, what's the point of discussing all of this at all?
myvoiceismypass
Hemp And Honey seems to be a store that happens to sell Holy! Water. They seem to carry a lot of brands.
This appears to be their site: https://enjoyholywater.com/ - You can see they seem to focus on nootropics, mushrooms, herbs, etc with a little bit of hemp in it. Not so nefarious. This stuff is carried in mainstream stores all over the place.
JKCalhoun
I see Hemp Gummies on Amazon.
This is the money shot : "Companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group receive government funding based on the number of people they detain, which is why they lobby for stricter immigration policies. It’s a lucrative business: CoreCivic made over $560m from Ice contracts in a single year. In 2024, GEO Group made more than $763m from Ice contracts.
The more detainees, the more money they make. It stands to reason that these companies have no incentive to release people quickly. What I had experienced was finally starting to make sense."