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posted by martyb on Tuesday May 02 2017, @05:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the Get-Me-Outta-Here! dept.

The Guardian

An Australian man has been handcuffed and locked up in a US detention centre after apparently breaching his visa conditions by just over one hour.

Sydney man Baxter Reid, 26, was in the US on a five-year visa and had travelled to Canada as part of a requirement for him to exit and re-enter America every six months to keep his visa valid.

But his American girlfriend Heather Kansco said Reid was arrested by US Border Patrol officers on 23 April after delays receiving clearance to cross into Canada meant he breached his visa conditions by just over an hour.

According to Kansco's account, the couple were given "the runaround" for more than four hours at the US-Canada border. By the time Canadian authorities referred them back to US Border Patrol, Reid had "technically violated his visa requirements".

"The US Border Patrol ended up taking Baxter away, because after waiting for hours with the Canadians, he ... was illegally in the US for a SINGLE HOUR," wrote Kansco.

Australian Broadcast Corp

A Canberra man has been detained in the United States for reportedly overstaying his visa by less than two hours.

... Mr Reid's brother, Alexander, said Canadian officials did not want to let Baxter through because his visa was close to expiring. "Because they had kept him, his visa had expired by 90 minutes," he said.

"He wants to go back home, but he wants to go of his own accord," Alexander said. "He doesn't want to get deported because he still wants to go back to the US because that's where his girlfriend lives."

"He wants to get a court date so he can say to the judge 'I was leaving [of] my own accord, I don't want to stay here illegally'," he said.

"But unfortunately a court date can be anywhere from a few weeks to six months.

"He could be locked up in detention for months only because his visa expired by 90 minutes."

Offering (forced) accommodation for free (on tax money) for at least a few weeks will prove a good investment in advertising the US tourism industry, right?


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday May 02 2017, @06:43PM (10 children)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday May 02 2017, @06:43PM (#503031) Journal

    Offering (forced) accommodation for free (on tax money) for at least a few weeks will prove a good investment in advertising the US tourism industry, right?

    Oh yeah, that investment is already paying off:
    US tourism experiences a 'Trump slump' [theguardian.com]

    Analysts estimate that President Trump has cost the US travel industry $185m in lost revenue, with significant drop in flight searches and bookings

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @06:57PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @06:57PM (#503043)

    So tourist fingerprinting, rude immigration agents and visa hassles have had no effect on tourism, while announcing closer controls on middle-easterners has given us the "Trump Slump"?

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by bob_super on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:04PM (3 children)

      by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:04PM (#503049)

      If being a dick killed tourism, France wouldn't be the first tourist destination in the world.

      Visiting a racist dick doesn't look as good on Facebook selfies...

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @10:49PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @10:49PM (#503240)

        The last resort of the US nationalist, go beat up on France! Glass houses, stones, bob_super.

        • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 02 2017, @10:58PM (1 child)

          by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday May 02 2017, @10:58PM (#503248)

          Moi, j'dis ca, c'est pas pour AC... Mais y'en a quand meme qui feraient mieux de relire avant d'ouvrir leur gueule.

          • (Score: 1) by Demena on Wednesday May 03 2017, @06:28AM

            by Demena (5637) on Wednesday May 03 2017, @06:28AM (#503511)

            Que est que c'est vous dites? Je ne parle pas la belle Francais.

  • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:03PM (#503048)

    Are the tourists scared because President Priest has the nuclear football?

  • (Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Tuesday May 02 2017, @08:21PM

    by linkdude64 (5482) on Tuesday May 02 2017, @08:21PM (#503115)

    I'm sure it compares to Europe's travel losses.

  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday May 02 2017, @09:02PM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Tuesday May 02 2017, @09:02PM (#503149)

    That article is over 2 months old already, and came out less than 2 months into Trump's administration. I wonder what the latest data looks like.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @10:44PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @10:44PM (#503232)

    > ... President Trump has cost the US travel industry $185m in lost revenue, ...

    That's OK, he will make it all up with his own trips to Florida -- all good money to the travel industry, right?
    WaPo estimates (well down in this long article) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/03/17/how-much-is-donald-trumps-travel-and-protection-costing-anyway/ [washingtonpost.com]

    If Melania and Barron never move to Washington and if Trump heads to Mar-a-Lago for four out of every nine weekends, our estimates put the total cost at something like $526 million over the course of Trump’s presidency. Melania Trump is apparently planning to join her husband in Washington at the end of the school year, though, and Trump calls Mar-a-Lago the “winter White House,” implying that he won’t be there in the summer. In which case the overall spending plummets further.

    To only, say, $130 million or so. ... [removed comparison to an unrelated budget cut].

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @10:53PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @10:53PM (#503243)

    I recently traveled abroad from the US. Every other country is more pleasant and welcoming in general. At the very least they are not nearly as intrusive with their security theater. Hell, even the flight transfers in China were a breath of fresh air compared to traveling DOMESTIC in the US!!! The wealthy and powerful are doing their damned best to tank the US right into the shitter.