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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.
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?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Tuesday May 02 2017, @08:48PM (3 children)
LOL. My biggest problem is not that they gave him some shit. A little shit for waiting until the last second isn't entirely shocking or unreasonable.
That being said, how about we NOT waste a ton of fucking money punishing him over months? Fuck, you could even smack him around a few times, and that would be better for the rest of us instead of wasting all of that money and time.
It was an Australian guy with his girlfriend. How is the great Security Theater supposed to prevent the next Twin Towers when they are fucking off on stupid shit like this? Just yell at him for a minute, reset his timestamp, and then send him on the way.
Was all of it really worth it for 90 minutes, which can arguably be said to have happened while in custody and transition to another country, to generate all of this bad will and tax payer liabilities and expense?
No. It wasn't. Border Patrol agents are being fascist authoritarian dickheads enjoying their ability to terrorize people. They need to be slapped around for awhile and told to get back to work. You know, the serious work of actually protecting our borders against criminals and terrorists. A fucking Australian past his visa for a few minutes while in custody of border control is an event that should've been handled in less than hour without national headlines.
That's the real take away from this. We can't process a foreign visitor with a tiny infraction without incurring bad will, national headlines, and wasting probably tens of thousands of dollars in court resources and time. If we're lucky.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Tuesday May 02 2017, @09:39PM (1 child)
The other take away:
The US *will* fuck you up, and they will fuck you up hard, if they can find any excuse to do so. That means you have to be a good little sheep, keep your head down, and do not do *anything* that might risk attention.
And this, by the way, applies to everyone, whether you're foreign OR a citizen of the US. You should feel privileged just being allowed to stand on US soil, so if you are even considering anything resembling seditious thoughts... beware.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @09:46PM
Don't you know posting with a registered account will get you noticed.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Wednesday May 03 2017, @12:47PM
That being said, how about we NOT waste a ton of fucking money punishing him over months?
RTFA: sounds like he's being held because he's insisting on having "his day in court" rather than accepting deportation back to Australia, because the latter will nix his chances of getting a new visitor visa to test the limits of (by living in the US and popping out for a jar of maple syrup every 6 months). I say "sounds like" because, typically, TFA has uncritically published his side of the story without asking any tough questions about the details.