SAN DIEGO (AP) — Lennon Tyler and her German fiancé usually took street journeys to Mexico when he vacationed in america because it was solely a day’s drive from her dwelling in Las Vegas, one of many perks of their long-distance relationship.
However issues went terribly flawed after they drove again from Tijuana final month.
U.S. border brokers handcuffed Tyler, a U.S. citizen, and chained her to a bench, whereas her fiancé, Lucas Sielaff, was accused of violating the foundations of his 90-day U.S. vacationer allow, the couple mentioned. Authorities later handcuffed and shackled Sielaff and despatched him to a crowded U.S. immigration detention heart. He spent 16 days locked up earlier than being allowed to fly dwelling to Germany.
Since President Donald Trump took workplace, there have been different incidents of vacationers like Sielaff being stopped at U.S. border crossings and held for weeks at U.S. immigration detention services earlier than being allowed to fly dwelling at their very own expense.
They embrace one other German vacationer who was stopped on the Tijuana crossing on Jan. 25. Jessica Brösche spent over six weeks locked up, together with over every week in solitary confinement, a good friend mentioned.
On the Canadian border, a backpacker from Wales spent almost three weeks at a detention heart earlier than flying dwelling this week. And a Canadian girl on a piece visa detained on the Tijuana border spent 12 days in detention earlier than returning dwelling final weekend.
Sielaff, 25, and the others say it was by no means made clear why they had been taken into custody even after they supplied to go dwelling voluntarily.
Pedro Rios, director of the American Pals Service Committee, a nonprofit that aids migrants, mentioned within the 22 years he has labored on the border he’s by no means seen vacationers from Western Europe and Canada, longtime U.S. allies, locked up like this.
“It’s definitely unusual with these cases so close together, and the rationale for detaining these people doesn’t make sense,” he mentioned. “It doesn’t justify the abhorrent treatment and conditions” they endured.
“The only reason I see is there is a much more fervent anti-immigrant atmosphere,” Rios mentioned.
After all, vacationers from international locations the place the U.S. requires visas — a lot of them non-Western nations — have lengthy encountered difficulties coming into the U.S.
U.S. authorities didn’t reply to a request from The Related Press for figures on what number of vacationers have just lately been held at detention services or clarify why they weren’t merely denied entry.
Weekslong lockups gas anxieties about vacationer journey to US
The incidents are fueling anxiousness because the Trump administration prepares for a ban on vacationers from some international locations. Noting the “evolving” federal journey insurance policies, the College of California, Los Angeles despatched a discover this week urging its foreign-born college students and employees to contemplate the dangers of journey for spring break, warning “re-entry requirements may change while you are away, impacting your return.”
Each German vacationers had been allowed into america below a program supplied to a choose group of nations, largely in Europe and Asia, whose residents are allowed to journey to the U.S. for enterprise or leisure for as much as 90 days with out getting a visa upfront. Candidates register on-line with the Digital System for Journey Authorization.
However even when they’re licensed to journey below that system, they will nonetheless be barred from coming into the nation.
Sielaff arrived within the U.S. on Jan. 27. He and Tyler determined to go to Tijuana for 4 days in mid-February as a result of Tyler’s canine wanted surgical procedure and veterinary companies are cheaper there. They figured they’d take pleasure in some tacos and make a enjoyable journey out of it.
“Mexico is a wonderful and beautiful country that Lucas and I love to visit,” Tyler mentioned.
They returned Feb. 18, simply 22 days into Sielaff’s 90-day vacationer allow.
Once they pulled as much as the crossing, the U.S. border agent requested Sielaff aggressively, “Where are you going? Where do you live?” Tyler mentioned.
“English is not Lucas’ first language and so he said, ‘We’re going to Las Vegas,’ and the agent says, ’Oh, we caught you. You live in Las Vegas. You can’t do that,’” Tyler mentioned.
Sielaff was taken away for extra questioning. Tyler mentioned she requested to go along with him or if he may get a translator and was advised to be quiet, then taken out of her automotive and handcuffed and chained to a bench. Her canine, recovering from surgical procedure, was left within the automotive.
After 4 hours, Tyler was allowed to go away however mentioned she was given no details about her fiancé’s whereabouts.
Throughout questioning, Sielaff mentioned he advised authorities he by no means lived within the U.S. and had no prison historical past. He mentioned he was given a full-body search and ordered handy over his cellphone and belongings. He was put in a holding cell the place he slept on a bench for 2 days earlier than being transferred to the Otay Mesa Detention Heart in San Diego.
There, he mentioned, he shared a cell with eight others.
“You are angry, you are sad, you don’t know when you can get out,” Sielaff mentioned. “You just don’t get any answers from anybody.”
He was lastly advised to get a direct flight to Germany and submit a affirmation quantity. In a frantic name from Sielaff, Tyler purchased it for $2,744. He flew again March 5.
‘A blatant abuse’ of US border authorities’ energy, victims say
“What happened at the border was just blatant abuse of the Border Patrol’s power,” Tyler mentioned.
Ashley Paschen agrees. She mentioned she realized about Brösche from a TikTok video asking anybody within the San Diego space for assist after her household realized she was being held on the Otay Mesa Detention Heart. Paschen visited her a number of instances and advised her folks had been working to get her out. Brosche flew dwelling March 11.
“She’s happy to be home,” Paschen mentioned. “She seems very relieved if anything but she’s not coming back here anytime soon.”
On Feb. 26, a vacationer from Wales, Becky Burke, a backpacker touring throughout North America, was stopped on the U.S.-Canada border and held for almost three weeks at a detention facility in Washington state, her father, Paul Burke, posted on Fb. She returned dwelling Tuesday.
On March 3, Canadian Jasmine Mooney, an actress and entrepreneur on a U.S. work visa, was detained on the Tijuana crossing. She was launched Saturday, her good friend Brittany Kors mentioned.
Earlier than Mooney’s launch, British Columbia Premier David Eby expressed concern, saying: “It certainly reinforces anxiety that … many Canadians have about our relationship with the U.S. right now, and the unpredictability of this administration and its actions.”
The detentions come amid authorized fights over the Trump administration’s arrests and deportations of different foreigners with legitimate visas and inexperienced card holders, together with a Palestinian activist who helped set up campus protests of the warfare in Gaza.
Tyler plans to sue the U.S. authorities.
Sielaff mentioned he and Tyler at the moment are rethinking plans to carry their wedding ceremony in Las Vegas. He suffers nightmares and is contemplating remedy to deal with the trauma.
“Nobody is safe there anymore to come to America as a tourist,” he mentioned.
