Australian with Work Visa Detained-Deported from USA
on returning to US from sister’s memorial
Man who says he had previously left and re-entered the country multiple times alleges border officials called him ‘retarded’ and boasted ‘Trump is back in town’
HAVANA TIMES – When Jonathan returned from the US to Australia for a two-day trip to scatter his sister’s ashes, he packed only two changes of clothes, leaving enough space in his small bag to carry the empty ashes urn to his home in the US. The trip was so brief he didn’t even pack a laptop charger.
The Australian says he was detained and deported when returning from the memorial in March, despite holding a working visa still valid for more than 15 months. He has been living on the US east coast for seven years – where his American partner, apartment, work studio and clients remain.
Jonathan, who spoke on the condition his real name was not disclosed, says he is now couch surfing in Sydney, separated from his “whole life”.
The situation, he says, is “a bit disastrous”.
The disaster began at border control in transit in Houston, Texas, when he was pulled aside and taken to a “secondary” room, he says. Posters hanging on the walls that had once celebrated diversity, equity and inclusion, had been crudely updated with a black marker pen, with mentions of DEI scribbled out. About 100 people from around the world sat and lay in various states of worry and exhaustion, he says.
“There were so many people in this room. A heavy percentage of them were from South America. I met a girl from Berlin. There were a bunch of people from Canada. There were two Brits.”
After about half an hour, he says, his name was called out. He was asked if he wanted to call the Australian consulate, but declined.
“I thought I was just going to be given my passport and sent on my way, or maybe asked a couple of questions, but they made some pretty outlandish accusations. They said, ‘We know you have two mobile phones. We’ve been tracking your calls. We know you’ve been selling drugs’.”
He says he told the border officer he did not drink, smoke or take drugs and owned just one phone. He was asked for his passcode.
“That didn’t sound right. I asked to talk to a lawyer and they told me I had no rights.” He says he was given a brochure explaining that he must surrender his phone and so handed it over, along with his smartwatch.
He says things “seemed really fucking weird” but he was careful to remain “overly polite”. He says when he asked the officer to repeat a comment he hadn’t heard, the man replied: “Are you deaf or just retarded?”
‘You live here, do you?’
Back in the secondary room, several families sat to one side in a family room beside cots, he says. People vied for half a dozen recliner seats. After about five or six hours, he was called into an interview room by a different officer.
He says the interview “went round and round in circles”.
“He suggested I was working for people I shouldn’t have been working for.”
Jonathan says the official suggested he was carrying human remains and sent for Centers for Disease Control agents to assess the empty ashes urn. He says when he explained he had been living in the US for seven years, he was asked: “Oh you live here, do you?”
Jonathan says: “Then he told me I didn’t have the right visa – apparently saying I lived there showed that I had intent to stay and not leave.”
He says his visa was still valid for more than 15 months and he had left and re-entered the US without any problems about 20 times holding the same class of visa.
He says that over a series of short interviews amounting to about half an hour, the official told him his visa had been cancelled and that he was banned from entering the US for five years, including as a transit passenger. He was told he would be placed on a flight to Australia and was handed a document informing him that he was an “immigrant not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa” as required by the Immigration and Nationality Act. He says he felt he had no choice but to sign the document, which Guardian Australia has seen.
He says the official then told him: “Trump is back in town; we’re doing things the way we should have always been doing them.”
Jonathan says he was told he could ask to speak to the man’s boss, who, he was warned, usually “didn’t have much to say”. He says the boss pointed to the official and told Jonathan: “Whatever he said.”
He says he was given a space blanket, meals of “what tasted like dog food” and later swapped notes with other bewildered travellers, some of whom had not left the room for two days.
Eventually, Jonathan says, he was allowed a single phone call, made by an officer to his father. “By that stage, I had been missing for more than 30 hours.”
He says after a day and a half his name was called out and he was escorted by an armed guard to meet a flight to Australia. Just before boarding – he was the first passenger on to the plane – he was passed an envelope containing his phone and watch. His passport was handed to him shortly before landing.
String of cases
Back in Australia, he is still searching for answers.
“They didn’t give me any valid reasons for cancelling my visa. I’ve spoken to a bunch of lawyers and they all say I could fight it but that it would cost thousands and probably take five years anyway.”
He says he has been told he can apply for a new visa, but that he would need to get a waiver to do so.
“Even if they recommend me for a waiver, it goes through Homeland Security and they are under a directive to not let people back in who have been kicked out,” he says.
After what he describes as “an awful time” – punctuated by an injury, his sister’s death and his deportation, in quick succession – he is now living in limbo.
“Part of me wants to go back, part of me is done. I have my partner there, my studio, my apartment. I brought enough clothes with me for two days – my entire life is there,” he says.
Jonathan’s girlfriend, who also asked not to be named, said she was “devastated” by the turn of events. When the time of his arrival came and went, she “started to get a sinking feeling”, she said via email from the US.
“My thoughts went to whether or not the plane went down. We had just finished a call before he boarded the flight back to [the US] and I hadn’t gotten any updates.
“Finally after being held for over 36 hours with no phone, he delivered the news that he was being sent back.
“We live together and while I can’t get time away from work right this second, all I want is to be reunited with him as soon as possible.
She said she was doing her best to manage her anxiety and support her partner from afar.
“I am choosing hope and working hard to overcome the many obstacles that this administration has put in our path. Our plan is to start a family after all.
“Others have been having similar experiences and my hope is that they don’t feel like they’re alone in their struggles,” she said.
Jonathan’s experience reflects a spate of similar border horror stories in recent months. In February, British tourist Rebecca Burke was stopped, interrogated and branded an illegal alien by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) division when attempting to leave the US. Germans Lucas Sielaff, Fabian Schmidt and Jessica Brösche were all detained upon entering the US. A Canadian, Jasmine Mooney, said she was detained by Ice for nearly two weeks and deported, despite having a work visa.
Guardian Australia contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment without revealing any identifying details about Jonathan, explaining that he did not consent to having his name disclosed in order not to jeopardise any future appeals.
Guardian Australia asked “what grounds would be reasonable for someone to be denied entry to the US when they have a valid work visa” and whether it was “considered acceptable for any traveller to be called a ‘retard’ by US border officials”.
A Department of Homeland Security media representative replied that the department “cannot answer questions on something we cannot verify the veracity of”.
“Just like I cannot confirm the existence of big foot.”
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will release data detailing consular assistance to Australians in the US for the period covering the start of Trump’s second term in late 2025.
Australia’s Smartraveller website advises visitors to the US that a valid visa “doesn’t guarantee entry to the United States”.
“Authorities have broad powers when deciding if you’re eligible to enter and may determine that you are inadmissible for any reason under US law,” it states.