They did not send them to El Salvador btw, they’re back in Germany now.
But the description of how they were treated is still harrowing:
Pohl and Lepère were interrogated in Honolulu International Airport for hours and allegedly subjected to body scans and strip searches before, finally, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents denied them entry to the country and said they would be deported, according to the outlet.
Officials became suspicious of potential illegal work intentions after learning the teens had not booked accommodation for their entire five-week stay in Hawaii
So everytime I travel I’m a potential terrorist? That’s what (many) backpackers do you dumbasses.
The women said they were placed in a holding cell beside some other detainees who were accused of serious crimes. The teens alleged they spent the night on moldy mattresses in a freezing double cell.
On March 19, the young travelers were allegedly taken back to Honolulu International Airport in handcuffs, where they requested to be sent to Tokyo, Japan.
Now imagine how much worse it is for all those so-called “illegals”, and still how much worse when they get to El Salvador.
It’s not entirely unwarranted, they WERE planning to work on a tourist-visa, which specifically and clearly not allowed in pretty much any country.
The horrible treatment is, of course, completely unwarranted, but denying entry isn’t.
Everyone who is going to USA for vacation is an idiot.
They found it suspicious that we hadn’t fully booked our accommodations for the entire five weeks in Hawaii
Fuckin seriously? We all know what backpacking is. I’ve never pre-booked an entire stay when traveling internationally except when it’s for work.
Yeah wtf… I even traveled to countries where I had no place for the night, but knew I would get one spontaneously. Not great in certain countries, and you gotta know that, but 5 weeks?
But at the time, we didn’t think it was happening to Germans
Then you didn’t pay attention, cause it happened to other Germans already.
And the Auswärtige Amt (German Foreign Office) has updated their travel advisory for the US with new warnings.I look forward to Hawaii’s tourism economy being destroyed by fear of being deported
One bonus - they won’t be spending any more money in the US.
‘We had already noticed a little bit of what was going on in the U.S. But at the time, we didn’t think it was happening to Germans,’ Maria Lepère says
Maria Lepère is either a certified idiot or lives behind the moon and/or in TikTok.
They say, international tourism to Usa plummets by 10%.
So there are still 90% certified idiots.
I had a discussion a little while ago on Lemmy about someone saying “why should I care about US politics”. Well, add this to the reasons why.
TBF, that’s normal. People tend to consume social media in their own language and don’t get the full brunt of what’s going on in the US. People want to stick to the idea that the world is just as normal as it was 10 years ago.
Well, thankfully I’m not normal.
Also, I have partial understanding for these backpackers. They were already traveling around the world, and my experience is that you consume less news or social media while traveling. Much less.
My experience is that travelling around the world is basically a full-time-job where you spend at least 2 hours every day gathering up-to-date info about your upcoming itinerary.
But maybe I’m weird that way. When I’m travelling with others, I usually slide into the role of travel guide automatically.You’ll still read enough about Trump and the US, even if you read in your native language. I see enough news about Trump every day, no matter what platform. The lady is just super naive and thought: nothing will happen?
She’s just a kid who recently finished school. But I hope she learned an important life lesson there.
I honestly kind of feel bad for Hawaii TBH. They need to gather the courage to secede and declare independence. Most of them voted Democrat, and as a chain of islands right smack-dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, they deserve better than to bear the consequences of all this insanity far away.