I have a coworker travelling there in July. Unwillingly, I’ve been more or less been kept in the loop what preparing the trip implies and I’m pretty horrified.
Up until now, these are some of demands made (and accepted):
- full disclosure and acess to social networks
- criminal record
- recent photo, perfectly groomed and in the attire to be used to travel there. No deviations will be tolerated from the supplied photo.
- complete list of possible identifying marks on the body, with pictures (tattoos, moles, melanistic spots, scars, etc)
- name and social networks of parents, siblings and other close relatives, including children.
The person is separated with two children; this is causing a lot of friction.
- has already been warned an interview of up to two hours will be held upon arrival.
The person speaks broken english at best.
- disclosure of place of employment and other connections to public organizations
They are connected to a local soccer club and a youth sports association.
To add to all of this, this isn’t a standard caucasian human but someone who has looks that can be taken for someone from the middle east, slightly darker shade of skin included.
Flying from southern europe straight to Florida.
I’m concerned. I would not go, full stop. They have people waiting there for them but nonetheless. Considering the heated state of affairs, it is something I consider of not easily to overlook risk.
Show your friend this thread. This is a bad idea. There was an Irish woman held for months. No trip is worth what this could turn into.
Forgive me but I did an AI search and here is what it came up with.
🇩🇪 Germany Lucas Sielaff / Celov: A 25-year-old German citizen visiting his American fiancée was detained for 16 days at the Otay Mesa Detention Facility south of San Diego. He was taken into custody while returning from a day trip to Tijuana, Mexico, after border officials accused him of violating his 90-day tourist permit. https://www.10news.com/news/team-10/it-is-like-jail-german-man-visiting-american-fiance-detained-by-ice-for-over-2-weeks
Jessica Brösche / Brocha: An artist from Berlin was detained for over six weeks, spending more than a week in solitary confinement. Authorities took her into custody at the San Diego border after accusing her of intending to perform unauthorized work because she was traveling with tattooing equipment. https://www.the-berliner.com/politics/berlin-jessica-brosche-45-days-us-detention-border-ice-trump/
Fabian Schmidt: A German national holding a U.S. green card was arrested and interrogated at the Boston airport upon returning from a vacation. His detention drew widespread criticism from local lawmakers. https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-05-09/ice-releases-fabian-schmidt-n-h-green-card-holder-in-detention-for-2-months
🇬🇧 United Kingdom Becky Burke: A 28-year-old graphic artist from Wales was held in an ICE Processing Centre in Washington State for 19 days. The detention followed a visa mix-up when she was denied entry at the Canadian border while attempting to leave the U.S… https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj4w91vz7jo
🇳🇴 Norway “Degman”: A Norwegian woman married to a U.S. citizen was arrested by ICE during a scheduled hearing at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in San Diego. She was held at Otay Mesa for a week for overstaying a visa before a judge terminated her case. https://www.borderreport.com/border-report-tour/migrant-centers/norwegian-arrested-by-ice-during-interview-to-be-released-from-custody/
🇮🇪 Ireland Sheamus Culliton: An Irish citizen from Kilkenny who had lived in the U.S. for 17 years was detained in an ICE facility in Texas while awaiting his green card. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg17m7842eo
🇳🇱 Netherlands Owen Ramsingh: A permanent resident who immigrated to the U.S. from the Netherlands in 1986 had his green card revoked and was placed in ICE custody for removal proceedings following a trip to Europe. https://www.npr.org/2026/05/05/nx-s1-5805229/detained-and-deported-a-missouri-man-must-make-a-new-life-in-the-netherlands
🇫🇷 France Marie-Thérèse Ross: An 85-year-old French widow was arrested by ICE agents at her home in Alabama after overstaying her 90-day tourist visa. Ross had moved to the United States to marry a former U.S. serviceman she had first met in France in the 1950s. Following her husband’s death, she was placed in a Louisiana immigration facility where she was reportedly handcuffed by her hands and feet. She spent 16 days in federal custody before being deported back to France. Unnamed French Academic: A French researcher traveling to a conference in Houston, Texas, was denied entry and detained at the airport. U.S. border officials targeted the researcher after scanning their personal electronic devices and finding messages critical of U.S. academic research policies. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/13/marie-therese-ross-85-year-old-ice-detainee
🇬🇧 United Kingdom Karen Newton: A 65-year-old retired British tourist was detained for six weeks (43 days) at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington. Despite traveling with a valid tourist visa, she and her husband were swept up at the Sweetgrass border crossing in Montana while attempting to return to Canada. Because her detention coincided with a U.S. federal government shutdown, her release was significantly delayed. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-newton-valid-visa-detained-ice
🇧🇬 Bulgaria Dmitrii Georgiev: A Bulgarian citizen vacationing in Quebec, Canada, was detained by ICE for nearly three months. Georgiev inadvertently crossed the unmarked U.S.-Canada border line in a rural area, resulting in his immediate arrest and long-term placement in an immigration holding facility. https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2026-01-28/a-bulgarian-in-canada-got-too-close-to-the-vermont-border-ice-detained-him-for-nearly-3-months
Your friend is playing with fire and could a get turned away at the airport or put in detention.
Miguel Barreno, a 40yo spanish migrant, spent 6 months in detention after voluntarily requesting going back to spain. Spent a month over a month in jail without being told why he was jailed. Source: https://elcomercio.pe/mag/respuestas/us/nos-trataron-como-al-peor-criminal-el-duro-relato-de-turistas-detenidos-por-ice-en-estados-unidos-nnda-nnse-noticia/
You’re posting an LLM generated response as if you didn’t know it was generated by a random process. It might list the relevant facts, but it doesn’t distinguish between truth and falsehood, just that it sounds right.
I did hear about a white Irish person being detained for a long time wrongly by ICE, but this doesn’t sound quite the same.
Generally, please don’t post AI slop as if it were factual.
I added a link for each one.
Thanks.
I can’t vouch for the AI result above but I’m from NZ and we had a citizen mom detained with her kid for weeks, Sarah Shaw, who thankfully got out. However another of our citizens, Everlee Wihongi, has been detained for over a month now. ICEs strategy is to move people so they’re harder to find and they move them when they have a court appearance coming up so they have to “reschedule”.
That is grim outlook!
I remember seeing a few spanish tourists being bothered too. I’ll see if I can concrete info to add