Detained for 3 Weeks for Overstaying 11 Hours?

[Merrytooth 5,748]

http://www.nhregister.com//opinion/20150110/randall-beach-meet-the-couple-who-have-a-magical-mystery-tour-on-the-horizon

I believe that this is the young lady...5 Year journey?

yes, I believe so.

Another article from the same site:

http://www.nhregister.com/lifestyle/20150416/couple-who-left-new-haven-on-wandering-bus-hits-immigration-trouble

One of the rules of VWP?

“Additionally, under the Visa Waiver Program,” Walls told HuffPo, “Ms. McCrohan is subject to mandatory detention and her case is not eligible for immigration court hearings. She will remain in custody while the agency finalizes her removal.”

Edited April 19, 2015 by Merrytooth

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Yeah, all that's missing now is a gofundme page.

If she can invent and blow it up as an "I was detained because as a Christian I was being persecuted" angle she might pull in a pretty penny.

[yuna628 9,527]

This article has been making it's rounds this month, and it seems there's a lot that doesn't make sense. The law doesn't protect you for being a complete idiot. I've no sympathy for the person. As far as indefinite detention, I don't know where in the rules it states this, at least according to her lawyer. I do know that there was a 2001 SCOTUS ruling that does put a limit on indefinite detention for immigrants -- a limit she hasn't reached yet. But you do waive your rights to appeal or hearing under VWP, as far as I understand it. Usually I thought they just ship you on the next plane out -- but perhaps they have further proof of her doing something amiss.

[Boiler 43,401]

She wasat the Canadian border so no flights home from there.

My guess is that she was doing a trip trip to Canada hoping to reset the VWP aand got caught out and the rest was made up.

Canadian Immigration were not happy with her story and saw she would not be re admitted to the US so did not let her in.

[Pennycat 880]

There is next to no way they're telling the truth about this. Unless she was here on some sort of student or exchange visa.....basically, they're still publically available Facebook page very clearly shows her in the US, working on the bus project in August 2014 (or earlier, I stopped scrolling it got ridiculous). Her VWP expired months before her attempted entry into Canada. I can acknowlege that maybe the rules of VWP seem to strict or harsh or whatever, and Western folks are very very used to just being able to go wherever they like, do a visa run to a neighboring country, and call it a day. But that just doesn't fly in the US (or Schengen area in Europe, either. She'd have been deported from there as well)

I am incredulous at the coverage she got (thought I have to note that her sob story was only picked up by a two-bit local paper and this Huffington Post "journalist" who is probably the boyfriend's classmate from Choate or whatever elite boarding school instills this level of entitlement). Just because she doesn't "look the part" and has English as a first language doesn't change the fact that what she (probably, inferred from he facts given and online) did is exactly the way that the overwhelming majority of other illegal immigrants to this country got here. Most people don't seem to realize that most people here illegally didn't *enter* illegally---they just stayed and became illegal. The comments of the articles are clear. Basically "gee, they won't round up all those [fill in your veiled reference to brown, Spanish-speaking people here]" and they bother THIS poor little girl"? Well, at least ICE doesn't play that game. She basically handed herself over to immigration authorities (unknowingly, but still). What were they expecting ICE to do? Realize that she's not "one of them" and just let her on her merry way? Imagine. Rant over. Sheesh.

[Boiler 43,401]

Nobody really knows about the split between those who entered legally and illegally for obvious reasons.

50/50 seems as good an assumption as any.

[Pennycat 880]

It is certainly possible that I misread the statistic. But even the low end estimate of 40% (of those ICE have removed, 40% arrived legally. But that is skewed low because of how many border jumpers ICE detains right at the border) doesn't exactly make her some rare special snowflake who just happened to oopsie forget to keep herself in legal status. She was just as unauthorized as the rest of them. She is clearly significantly less intelligent than most of the rest of them, seeing as how she walked right into the hands of the people who would be *required to* deny her entry and then *required to* detain and remove her. Most illegal immigrants know a bit better than that. Or at least they're wise enough to know that the rules apply to them, even if they choose to break those rules).

The rest of it still stands. She's almost certainly lying about the 11 hour thing, she and her boyfriend reek of entitlement, and the media coverage given to her has more than a whiff of "can you believe that she got in trouble for breaking the law", the comments sections are outright gross, and I have a pretty good idea why she's getting this special treatment and attention. And it involves blonde hair, blue eyes and her native tongue.

[Boiler 43,401]

She is quite cute...

Probably been doing border runs.

[Pennycat 880]

She is quite cute...

Probably been doing border runs.

But you can't on VWP. Time spent in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean all count against your 90 days. Harsh? Fair? That's not my point, and I can't really speak to that. But them's the breaks.

Maybe someone at the border on one of the "runs" didn't notice, and accidentally gave her a fresh 90 day stamp (but it still wouldn't have counted because it was from Canada) or she did it at a period of time that she was within 90 days. But clearly....if the end result here is a 10 year ban.....she wasn't doing this legitimately and overstayed her VWP by a very long time just like at a *minimum* 40% of other illegal immigrants have done.

So why does she get all the moral outrage on her behalf? Change her situation and her demographic ever so slightly and the folks in the comments section would have gladly run her out of the country themselves. And why doesn't the media seem to care about legal immigrants suffering the system, only publishing the self-inflicted sob stories of illegal immigrants (she's not the first and she won't be the last)? It's maddening.

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

So why does she get all the moral outrage on her behalf? Change her situation and her demographic ever so slightly and the folks in the comments section would have gladly run her out of the country themselves.

She's a pretty, middle-class white lady from an Anglophone, non-scary country. Privilege is real, yo.

I just realised that the boyfriend's dad is a friend of a friend of my family -- thought the kid's name sounded familiar. Weird.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

Googled her name, it appears her boyfriend has already made it to Australia. Don't overstay!

[BaronB 42]

The US loves white attractive women. Shame, poor lamb. Now she is banned? Well that's what happens when you break laws and get caught. She is just as guilty as a Mexican overstayer but that doesn't sell newspapers and get sympathy votes. An immigration lawyer, a very liberal and educated one, told me without hesitation that being white is a HUGE advantage to immigrating to the US - expect far less hassle.

[Pennycat 880]

She's a pretty, middle-class white lady from an Anglophone, non-scary country. Privilege is real, yo.

I just realised that the boyfriend's dad is a friend of a friend of my family -- thought the kid's name sounded familiar. Weird.

Ding ding ding ding we have a winner.

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

The US loves white attractive women. Shame, poor lamb. Now she is banned? Well that's what happens when you break laws and get caught. She is just as guilty as a Mexican overstayer but that doesn't sell newspapers and get sympathy votes. An immigration lawyer, a very liberal and educated one, told me without hesitation that being white is a HUGE advantage to immigrating to the US - expect far less hassle.

My ex was once detained at Newark for several hours. We had about 6 years prior abandoned an AOS which was in process so we could move back to the UK permanently. Although he had come and gone many times prior to 9/11 without issue after abandoning AOS, this time he was flagged as an overstay on a VWP. He was white, well-educated, well-spoken, well-connected (parents high-ranking civil servants in the Home Office) and a lawyer. (He made sure to mention this several times. ) He was treated very politely and was paroled in to join me because "it's Christmas." While in secondary he observed others being treated poorly, including an Iranian-born permanent resident (also an attorney) who was not permitted to use the bathroom, and a Pakistani mother with her newborn child who was not allowed to change her baby's diaper. He saw people being yelled at and threatened with jail. Meanwhile, he knew he had little to fear because of who he was, and his position in the world.

[BaronB 42]

My ex was once detained at Newark for several hours. We had about 6 years prior abandoned an AOS which was in process so we could move back to the UK permanently. Although he had come and gone many times prior to 9/11 without issue after abandoning AOS, this time he was flagged as an overstay on a VWP. He was white, well-educated, well-spoken, well-connected (parents high-ranking civil servants in the Home Office) and a lawyer. (He made sure to mention this several times. ) He was treated very politely and was paroled in to join me because "it's Christmas." While in secondary he observed others being treated poorly, including an Iranian-born permanent resident (also an attorney) who was not permitted to use the bathroom, and a Pakistani mother with her newborn child who was not allowed to change her baby's diaper. He saw people being yelled at and threatened with jail. Meanwhile, he knew he had little to fear because of who he was, and his position in the world.

I can believe this, I never had problems with border control in previous visits. The craziest question I was ever asked was "What are your hobbies?". Yeah, I still wonder why that was asked but anyway.