1mo ago

«You have no right to be here»: A Swiss woman's harrowing tale of arrest and detention at the US border

www.nzz.ch

Swiss woman is denied entry at the US border and detained

United States | News & Politics @midwest.social

cm0002 @lemmy.world

1mo ago

Swiss woman is denied entry at the US border and detained

www.nzz.ch /english/you-have-no-right-to-be-here-a-swiss-womans-harrowing-tale-of-arrest-and-detention-at-the-us-border-ld.1889535

United States | News & Politics @lemmy.ml

☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ @lemmy.ml

1mo ago

Swiss woman is denied entry at the US border and detained

www.nzz.ch /english/you-have-no-right-to-be-here-a-swiss-womans-harrowing-tale-of-arrest-and-detention-at-the-us-border-ld.1889535

13 comments

For your own safety, never travel to the United States.
Her period had started, and she was bleeding heavily. But she received only a single sanitary pad after repeated requests – after bloodstains had already spread across her clothing. There were no painkillers available. There, covered in blood on a rudimentary toilet, she cried for the second time. After that, she was given prison clothing.
«There are three tables on the left side and telephones on the right side. Behind them are the beds, one next to the other. There were two toilets, two sinks and two showers. But everything was open, there was no privacy.»
She had to put her blood-soaked clothes back on and was once again chained by her hands, feet and waist. At the airport, several security officers – one carrying a weapon – escorted her to her plane. She only got her passport and smartphone back once she was in the air.
Cruelty is the point.
This is a non-story. She was doing consulting work in the US without getting the required work permit. She lied about it, and was also given the choice of returning back to Switzerland (which she declined) and that's how she ended up in detention.
- Because Lara not only works at a school in Switzerland, but also gives online language courses and counts Americans among her customers, the border officials were convinced that she wanted to work during her stay in the U.S.
  The fact that Lara was carrying souvenirs, such as German books and Swiss chocolate, had her laptop and had arranged to meet some of her online students for coffee in New York reinforced the border officials' suspicions. When Lara insisted that she did not want to work during her vacation, the officials always responded with the same statement: «You're lying.»
  «Then they threatened me: Either I officially say in the interrogation that I came to New York to work, or they will send me to prison,» Lara says, adding that the situation intimidated her. «But I still said: That's not right. If you treat me like this, I will need a lawyer, and I must be given the opportunity to contact the Swiss Embassy. Their response was: You have no right to be here. You are not an American citizen.»
  If you have conflicting sources please cite them
  
  It's now a pervasive idea in America that non-citizens have no rights. Not just the rights that US citizens are entitled to, basic UN-chartered human rights are being deprived. Either you are an American*, or you are some sort of head of cattle that can be done with as they please.
  *terms and conditions apply
  
  Your quoted text clearly states she was meeting clients. That's not allowed on a tourist visa (same rule applies in Switzerland). She was then told she could not enter the country and had to turn around -- she refused and was put in detention (same rule applies to anyone visiting Switzerland). Other reports note that she was doing her online courses from NYC.
- Is there a link to another source? This one doesn’t give that information.
- Even if she was, this is absolutely unacceptable treatment of a human being. Her actually doing that would not warrant such treatment, even if she was actually convicted (she wasn't even charged). There is no due process anymore in America, which we should never consider normal and always consider newsworthy.

13 comments