Just thought you guys might be interested, theres a few people taking the USA off their lists of places they'd like to see:
'I was treated like a common criminal'
11 August 2002
By PHIL TAYLOR
A former air hostess says she was treated like a "common criminal" by United States immigration officials for a minor visa infringement.
Maggie Anderson, 50, who is married to an American, was detained for 35 hours, handcuffed, fingerprinted, body-searched and sent back to New Zealand after arriving at Los Angeles airport on an annual visit to see family.
Anderson is among a growing number of of Kiwis complaining about heavy-handed treatment by US immigration. These include Queenstown's Darren Caulton, a location scout who found some of the sites used in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and journalist Fiona Smith.
Several years ago Anderson and Caulton overstayed the 90-day visa, routinely given to New Zealanders on arrival in the United States, because injury delayed their departure. They had visited the country several times since without problem.
Anderson, a former Air New Zealand hostess, has been to the US 400 times, four since she overstayed her visa by eight days due to a back injury in 1998.
They were caught in a crackdown on immigration breaches in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Caulton was detained for 26 hours. He was in transit in Los Angeles on his way home from his honeymoon in Europe, forcing his distraught wife Fleur to return to New Zealand without him.
He and Anderson said they were shocked at the lack of professionalism from officials who were rude, arrogant and continually shouted at detainees.
Caulton was also fingerprinted, photographed, searched and escorted through the public arrivals lounge with hands cuffed behind his back. His shoelaces were removed "so I wouldn't hang myself".
"I just couldn't believe the treatment we got. They weren't prepared to listen to anyone, didn't let you make a phone call, nothing," Caulton said.
"They were just out of control. It was like they were a law unto their own."
Officials made lewd comments to a young Russian woman who didn't speak English and a weeping Chinese woman, who also spoke no English, was repeatedly shouted at to stop crying, Caulton said.
A Korean priest was told "to go home and preach to your own people".
Anderson said she saw two men beaten to the ground by security guards during her detention.
Caulton said a knee injury which put him on crutches caused him to overstay his visa.
His employer at the time wrote to US immigration and he'd understood the matter was cleared up.
He said he'd raised it as he left the US in 1996 and was told it was not a problem and it hadn't been mentioned during several visits since - "then six years later this happens".
Caulton said he was told by an investigating officer of the immigration and Naturalisation Service there had been a mistake.
There was no apology and he was still escorted to his flight to New Zealand "like a criminal". He and Anderson were held overnight and refused access to their belongings. They were not given bedding or meals and were escorted by armed guards to the toilet.
"It was a shocking way to finish a great honeymoon. My wife was really upset because they wouldn't tell her anything," Caulton said.
He was allowed to speak to his wife only after threatening to "make a scene".
Anderson who, with husband Doug, has made an annual visit to the US for the past 25 years, wants to warn travellers of the treatment they face if they have even the most minor blot on their copybook.
If they had doubts they should sort it out with the US consulate before leaving New Zealand, she said.
She was asked by officials in Los Angeles for proof of the back injury which caused her to overstay. Those documents were in New Zealand.
Anderson is frustrated such a minor thing was dealt with in a heavy-handed way. "I feel they have gone into panic mode (as a result of September 11)."
The experience was distressing, embarrassing and an eye-opener. "I'm no prude. It takes a lot to embarrass me. Now I'm angry but I couldn't even talk about it a week ago.
"If this was done to an American in another country they would be outraged."
Anderson was searched by a woman wearing rubber gloves. "You are spreadeagled against a wall, like you see in the movies. It was humiliating and for someone younger it could have been devastating."
Fiona Smith was sent back to New Zealand while in Hawaii en route to Canada on a work assignment.
She had overstayed her visa seven years earlier. Though treated civilly, she was not allowed to speak to the person who made the decision to send her home.
"I was obviously not a threat to American society but they are so narrow minded and bureaucratic you can't reason with them."
The US tightened its approach to breaches of immigration regulations this year as part of the country's response to the New York terrorist attacks.
The US Embassy warned in April travellers who overstayed could be deported and barred from re-entering the country permanently.
Embassy spokesman Bill Millman said he was concerned by some of the alleged behaviour of officials.
"I would hope that if their experiences were as they described, that this is an aberration.
"Somebody or some people appeared to have a bad day and did things incorrectly."
Going by the number of complaints received by the United States consulate in Auckland this was very rare, he said.
If mistakes were made the people affected deserved an apology and should take it up with the managers of the regions where they were detained, Millman said.
But officials had the difficult task of trying to make it easy for millions of law-abiding travellers to enter the US while making it difficult for terrorists and criminals.
"We want to treat everyone fairly and if they are bad people they should be arrested."
Overstaying a visa by just one day made a person liable for a criminal offence, Millman said. "In many United States jurisdictions you can be handcuffed and fingerprinted for any criminal offence. This is not just something being done to foreigners."
New Zealanders are generally allowed 90 days in the US without a visa. However, people who have criminal convictions or who have overstayed in the past may have to seek a visa from the consulate.
