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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, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @09:15PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @09:15PM (#503167)

    We've had a bunch of non-USAian Soylentils say that they simply won't visit USA because of all the bullshit.

    You'd think that the travel industry would be fighting back tooth and nail on this.

    You'd think that USAians who need to travel abroad would be voting for politicians who take a bold stand against Security Theater.

    Clearly, we've turned into a nation of Caspar Milquetoasts.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

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  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday May 03 2017, @12:40AM (3 children)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Wednesday May 03 2017, @12:40AM (#503349) Homepage

    Well, to be fair, they oppress their own people as well.

    And knowing that the guy was an Aussie, he probably deserved it. The border guard probably asked him how his day was going and the Aussie responded with some kind of condescending smart-ass remark best reserved for the fan of an opposing football team in a pub on game-day.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by caffeine on Wednesday May 03 2017, @02:27AM (2 children)

      by caffeine (249) on Wednesday May 03 2017, @02:27AM (#503423)

      In Australia we take mistreating people to a new level. Our asylum seekers get shipped to a camp in PNG for processing. Even if they are found to have a legitimate claim, they still never get to come to Australia. Seems the next batch are getting settled in the USA.

      http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/dengue-fever-outbreak-in-nauru-hits-10-per-cent-of-asylum-seekers-20170427-gvtk2u.html [smh.com.au]

      This approach may break many UN conventions, but has dramatically reduced the number of people seeking refuge here.

      • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday May 03 2017, @05:36AM

        by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Wednesday May 03 2017, @05:36AM (#503490) Homepage

        When can I move to Australia? I have the vocational skills, enjoy rural environments, am a member of a five-eyes country, am mostly White, and enjoy getting drunk and talking shit, which is the Australian national pasttime.

        America is pretty nice, but I don't know how much longer that's gonna last. If 8 years of Trump doesn't make America great again then it's time to bail.

      • (Score: 2) by bradley13 on Wednesday May 03 2017, @02:14PM

        by bradley13 (3053) on Wednesday May 03 2017, @02:14PM (#503639) Homepage Journal

        More power to you.

        The vast majority of would-be immigrants are not seeking asylum, they are economic migrants who think that Western countries are the land of milk and honey. However, they generally have no education and no useful skills, meaning that they wind up on the dole for the rest of their lives. I do not pay my taxes so that random people from all over the world can come here and live for free.

        Anyway, surveys in Africa show that there are more would-be migrants that the entire population of Europe. We cannot accept them all. The best solution is to prevent them from even trying - and this is what Australia's hard-line position achieves. The alternative is what we have now in Europe: millions of migrants risking their lives to get here - tens of thousands dying on the way - and WTF are we supposed to do with them when they arrive?

        I wish Europe had adopted Australia's approach from the start.

        /rant

        --
        Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.