An Australian family who traveled to the US to visit a dying relative were accused of attempting to illegally immigrate by US Customs and Border Patrol officials, who caged them, detained them, starved them overnight, and then sent them back on the next flight to Australia. The US consulate's only comment? "We reserve the right to refuse entry to visitors to the United States."
A reminder to the US Border Patrol: what you do to foreigners, their governments are apt to do to Americans. When you treat foreigners this way, you put Americans who go abroad in harm's way.
For the next 24 hours, officers questioned the Thornleigh taxi driver and his aged-care worker wife, patted them down and searched their luggage before sending them to a detention center in a caged van. They were then taken to a hotel with other detainees at 2.30am to sleep with armed guards by their bedside before being woken at 4.30am and put on a flight back to Sydney...
"They treated us like terrorists," Mr Rabbi said. "We are Australian citizens. Why did they have to keep us in a detention center? Why did they have to lock up my kids?"
Mr Rabbi says that when he explained he was in the US to visit his father, the officers threatened him.
Despite producing the family's $6400 return tickets, dated February 5, he says the officers accused him of attempting to illegally stay in the US...
The family, tired and hungry after their 18-hour flight from Sydney to Los Angeles via Melbourne, were given minimal food and drink during their time at the airport.
"We were given no food, apart from a few biscuits," Mr Rabbi said.
Mr. Rabbi, you have our most sincere apologies and know that those holdouts from the recent error are being rooted out and disposed of.
No comments:
Post a Comment