VISA Cops Imprison Innocent UK Tourists

In a cynical move that will have BIG repercussions on US Tourism, VISA
cops are imprisoning innocent British tourists if they have a wrong
visa. Read on:

The Sunday Times - Review

April 18, 2004

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...077986,00.html

Most wanted: how the US visa cops nailed me

David James Smith was one of many Britons put in a cell for not having
the right papers for a visit to the States

Though I do not usually take pleasure from other people's misfortune,
I must confess I was rather happy to read that Ian McEwan, the
novelist, had briefly been refused entry to the United States the
other day because he did not have the right visa.
There has been a spate of similar cases in recent months — a couple of
reporters from Australia, a large group of computer game journalists
heading to a convention, some friends of friends who had the wrong
visa, an expired visa or no visa at all. And me, glad of the company,
relieved to find that I am not the only turkey in the coop.



I flew into Los Angeles International Airport at about 3pm on March 2.
The immigration officer took my green visa waiver form and asked the
purpose of my visit. I told him I was on assignment for The Sunday
Times Magazine.

The officer asked me to follow him to the secondary inspection area
where he handed my passport to a colleague. I wasn't worried, I had
nothing to hide.

Then I was called to the counter and told that the green waiver form
was not intended for use by foreign journalists who were supposed to
have an I-visa. Again, I was not concerned. I had been travelling to
the States on assignments for nearly 10 years and had never had a
visa. I had always been open about the nature of my visit and had
never before been challenged, not even after 9/11.

I was told that the role of immigration had been subsumed into the
Department of Homeland Security and that the rules had been tightened.
Strictly speaking, as a journalist you should only ever have entered
with the I-visa but in practice it had not been necessary. Until now.

After five hours of anxious waiting I was told I had been refused
entry and would be going home the next day. I wondered if I'd be put
up in an airport hotel. But no, I was told I would be handed over to a
private security firm who would take me to a detention centre in
downtown LA. I was laboriously fingerprinted, digit by digit, three
times for three separate forms and photographed four times because one
of the pictures didn't come out.

When the private security officer came along he told me to empty my
pockets and remove my shoe laces and my trouser belt. He told me to
place my hands behind my head and frisked me. In the secure area I was
offered a cold drink and an apple and a bun. I was too sick to eat. I
wasn't allowed a cup of coffee, presumably because I might have used
it as a weapon. All my possessions were now in my bags which I could
use only with permission. I was not allowed the use of my mobile or
laptop or even a pen. I was given a red soft felt-tip and used it to
make some notes.

Just before midnight another officer arrived to take me to the
detention centre. He said he was not going to cuff me and I thanked
him. He asked me if I wanted to bring anything. I said I didn't know
what was there, so couldn't say what I might need. There was not much
there, he said. Blankets? No. Could I take one? No, because then he'd
have 200 other inmates all rioting for a blanket.

I was locked into a cage in the back of a van — a stray dog on his way
to the pound. The detention centre was in the bowels of the regional
field office of the Department of Homeland Security. I passed through
the entrance into the secure area. It was a large open room with
chairs and desks, surrounded by a series of locked rooms with
reinforced glass windows. Each of the rooms had an incongruously large
numeral painted on its facing wall. "I'll put him in tank two, shall
I?" asked the guard who took me in. No, he was told, use tank one.

I was kept in the room for the whole night. It was a square room of 15
paces width. Bright fluorescent lights remained on the whole time. I
was told they could not be dimmed or turned off. Cold air blew
constantly from vents in the high ceiling that were spattered with
dried pieces of sodden toilet tissue that other inmates had obviously
used to try to block the vents.

There was no bedding and no bed, just a bench fixed to the wall with a
cold metallic surface; there was a stainless steel toilet and a
drinking tap moulded from the same unit immediately above the toilet.
There was no door on the filthy toilet, only a partial sidescreen.
There was a television, which was off when I arrived and was switched
on shortly after 6am.

There was a bank of telephones on the wall and several notices by the
door, listing the phone numbers of consulates and immigration lawyers.
The phones could be used only with special detention centre phone
cards, purchased from a machine just outside my door. There was a list
of rules about inmate behaviour which, in the absence of a pen, I
tried and failed to memorise. I recall that horseplay was banned, as
was knocking on the glass window. There was, however, no bell or any
other means of calling for help or assistance.

After about an hour I began to feel a little panicky. Would I cope? I
caught the eye of a passing guard and he unlocked my door. He let me
buy a phone card. I told him I wasn't sure that I could handle being
locked up all night and he said you just have to try to get through it
as best you can. I lay on the cold bench and read a book, using the
plastic liner from the dirty dustbin for insulation and my unlaced
shoes as a pillow.

I tried to call colleagues in London but it was out of hours by now
and I couldn't raise anybody. Reluctantly, but needing to speak to
someone who cared about me, I called home and told my girlfriend,
Petal, where I was and what had happened. I did my best to reassure
her that I was okay but she was worried. I felt calmer after speaking
to her and knew then that I would survive the experience. Still, it
remained close to unbearable and I was unable to sleep.

At about 8am I was placed in another "tank" with 20 others. A man came
and asked what a white boy like me was doing there. So I told him. He
was Jordanian and had just finished a prison sentence for a firearms
offence and faced deportation. I spoke to a Jamaican and a man from
Belize who had both been caught trying to enter the United States on
false passports. They had spent a month in prison and were about to be
deported.

The door opened and the breakfast trolley pulled up. We were told to
form a single file from the door and took it in turns to collect our
breakfast. No coffee, of course. After breakfast I was called from the
room and taken to wait in the lobby with a group of Chinese. As we sat
there a party of young Mexican men arrived, all handcuffed together
like a chain gang.

I wondered if I would be handcuffed for the return journey but I was
locked in the van again, with the Chinese this time, and we drove back
to the airport. One of the Chinese spoke English and said they had
flown to Mexico from Europe and entered the US in a lorry. Now they
were being flown to Beijing.

At the airport we drove across the runway and stopped at the foot of
the Chinese group's 747 and they were escorted onto the plane. I was
taken back to the secure room inside the airport where I wrapped
myself in blankets and fell asleep.

It was 26 hours after my arrival when two guards finally escorted me
onto the plane home. They took me into the plane and gave the purser
an envelope containing my passport, which was returned to me just
before we landed at Heathrow. Inside it, someone had written in big
letters in black biro: "Refused under sec 217.4 (a)b) of the INA
(Immigration and Nationality Act). To depart foreign on VSOO8."

S.Byers wrote:

In a cynical move that will have BIG repercussions on US Tourism, VISA
cops are imprisoning innocent British tourists if they have a wrong
visa. Read on:

Wasn't a similar thing posted a few weeks ago?
The journalist was attempting to enter the US on the Visa Waiver program
to do work that was not permitted by the VWP and that required a visa.
He indicated he has been entering without a visa for 10 years, so I
guess he thought he had right to better treatment than the people of
other nationalities he wrote about. The solution is quite simple. When
traveling to a foreign country, make sure you know what kind of visa is
required.

On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 17:54:49 GMT, mtravelkay wrote:

The solution is quite simple. When
traveling to a foreign country, make sure you know what kind of visa is
required.

but it's also, don't post any trip reports about the US to the
internet after visiting unless you travelled there on an appropriate
visa.

Jim.

Cisco troll/netkook asshole Michael Voight mtravelkay trolled:



S.Byers wrote:

In a cynical move that will have BIG repercussions on US Tourism, VISA
cops are imprisoning innocent British tourists if they have a wrong
visa. Read on:

Wasn't a similar thing posted a few weeks ago?
The journalist was attempting to enter the US on the Visa Waiver program
to do work that was not permitted by the VWP and that required a visa.
He indicated he has been entering without a visa for 10 years, so I
guess he thought he had right to better treatment than the people of
other nationalities he wrote about. The solution is quite simple. When
traveling to a foreign country, make sure you know what kind of visa is
required.

So what the **** do you care? You post nothing but **** tons of times a day.
Stop harassing the posters, asshole!

About Rogue Cisco Employee Michael "mrtravelkay" Voight,
a.k.a. the "mrtravel" Netkook Troll/Usenet Flooder

***WARNING: THIS IDIOT HAS BEEN CAUGHT FORGING PEOPLE'S IDENTITIES ON USENET
AND CANCELLING THEIR POSTS.***

"mrtavelkay" is the latest usenet handle of a brainless troll whose real name is
Michael Voight, email .

He is better known by his previous stupid handle, "mrtravel".

The idiot works for Cisco in San Jose and apparently they don't
keep him busy enough so he has to troll usenet when he isn't
looking for foreign brides to marry in exchange for money
in alt.visa.us.marriage-based and alt.personals.big-folks, or trying
to pick up minors in alt.personals.teens or any of the number of creepy
newsgroups he frequents. Some of his other trolling aliases are Network
Guy, , sleepydoc , jlhunt
, and Lost 5 of 8 , mrt ,
news.sf.sbcglobal.net , not-nomen
, David Tanner
, Jeff Davies , BobTheBuilder
.

All intelligent members of the usenet community have killfiled him, so he takes
great pains to get past their killfiles by rubbing his only two cerebral neurons
together and coming up with gems like: mrtrav , mrtrav3
, mrraveltay , and mrtravelkay
, and mtravelkay and ""a.a\"@a,a,a.
The lastest product of his brain diarrhea is Bill Clarkj
.

He seems to like to hang out in alt.sex.preteen. Hmmm....

His phone numbers are 831-295-3628 and 831-252-2606.

He's got a daughter in Orange County that one of his ex-wives had the
intelligence to take away from him. Lord only knows what could have
happened to her if she had continued to live with the kook. The other kids
he has belong to his previous Russian sleazy brides, and since they come
and go so do the kids. It wouldn't hurt to let Cisco know what kind of
deviant sexual pervert maniac they have working for them, so....

For starters, forward his idiotic posts to .

He works in technical support, so forward them to .

He often posts through sbcglobal and prodigy, so forward them to
and as well.

You can also call them at 1 800 553 2447 and ask to speak with a supervisor
and explain that you are EXTREMELY unhappy that this idiot spends his whole
day at work playing on the internet on company time. THEY WILL NOT LIKE
THAT.

Then write to corporate headquarters explaining what this idiot is doing
and telling them HOW BAD IT IS FOR THEIR COMPANY IMAGE. They will LOVE
that you brought this to their attention:

Cisco Systems, Inc.
170 West Tasman Dr.
San Jose, CA 95134
USA

Then also call them. You should always follow up email or letters with
phone calls. Always ask for supervisors or managers. Try to get as far up
as possible.

(408)526-4000
(800)553-NETS or
(800)553-6387

Contact Investor Relations and tell them you are interested in investing in
their company but won't do so until they get rid of this asshole who is
wasting company resources:

Cisco Systems, Inc.
Investor Relations Department
170 West Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA 95134-1706
Phone: (408) 526-8890
Fax: (408) 526-4545
Email:

Might as well contact customer service too, they LOVE to hear about this
type of stuff:

USA 1 800 553 6387




Then finally, send letters with copies of his nasty posts addressed
personally to each one of the OFFICERS of the company using the
headquarters address. Believe me, they READ your complaints and are VERY
INTERESTED in them, especially if it's about one of their employees. They
will take a PERSONAL interest in rooting this ASSHOLE out of their company:

John Morgridge, Chairman
John Chambers, President, CEO
Donald Valentine, Vice Chairman
Larry Carter, CFO, Sr. VP-Fin. and Admin., Sec., Director
Richard Justice, Sr. VP, Worldwide Field Operations

Have fun!

On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 19:31:39 +0000, Jim Ley wrote:

On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 17:54:49 GMT, mtravelkay wrote:

The solution is quite simple. When
traveling to a foreign country, make sure you know what kind of visa is
required.

but it's also, don't post any trip reports about the US to the
internet after visiting unless you travelled there on an appropriate
visa.

Why?

Surely the story was interesting, and of educational value for travelers.

Cisco troll/netkook asshole Michael Voight mtravelkay trolled:

S.Byers wrote:

In a cynical move that will have BIG repercussions on US Tourism, VISA
cops are imprisoning innocent British tourists if they have a wrong
visa. Read on:

Wasn't a similar thing posted a few weeks ago?
The journalist was attempting to enter the US on the Visa Waiver program
to do work that was not permitted by the VWP and that required a visa.
He indicated he has been entering without a visa for 10 years, so I
guess he thought he had right to better treatment than the people of
other nationalities he wrote about. The solution is quite simple. When
traveling to a foreign country, make sure you know what kind of visa is
required.

So what the **** do you care? You post nothing but **** tons of times a day.
Stop harassing the posters, asshole!

About Rogue Cisco Employee Michael "mrtravelkay" Voight,
a.k.a. the "mrtravel" Netkook Troll/Usenet Flooder

***WARNING: THIS IDIOT HAS BEEN CAUGHT FORGING PEOPLE'S IDENTITIES ON USENET
AND CANCELLING THEIR POSTS.***

"mrtavelkay" is the latest usenet handle of a brainless troll whose real name is
Michael Voight, email .

He is better known by his previous stupid handle, "mrtravel".

The idiot works for Cisco in San Jose and apparently they don't
keep him busy enough so he has to troll usenet when he isn't
looking for foreign brides to marry in exchange for money
in alt.visa.us.marriage-based and alt.personals.big-folks, or trying
to pick up minors in alt.personals.teens or any of the number of creepy
newsgroups he frequents. Some of his other trolling aliases are Network
Guy, , sleepydoc , jlhunt
, and Lost 5 of 8 , mrt ,
news.sf.sbcglobal.net , not-nomen
, David Tanner
, Jeff Davies , BobTheBuilder
.

All intelligent members of the usenet community have killfiled him, so he takes
great pains to get past their killfiles by rubbing his only two cerebral neurons
together and coming up with gems like: mrtrav , mrtrav3
, mrraveltay , and mrtravelkay
, and mtravelkay and ""a.a\"@a,a,a.
The lastest product of his brain diarrhea is Bill Clarkj
.

He seems to like to hang out in alt.sex.preteen. Hmmm....

His phone numbers are 831-295-3628 and 831-252-2606.

He's got a daughter in Orange County that one of his ex-wives had the
intelligence to take away from him. Lord only knows what could have
happened to her if she had continued to live with the kook. The other kids
he has belong to his previous Russian sleazy brides, and since they come
and go so do the kids. It wouldn't hurt to let Cisco know what kind of
deviant sexual pervert maniac they have working for them, so....

For starters, forward his idiotic posts to .

He works in technical support, so forward them to .

He often posts through sbcglobal and prodigy, so forward them to
and as well.

You can also call them at 1 800 553 2447 and ask to speak with a supervisor
and explain that you are EXTREMELY unhappy that this idiot spends his whole
day at work playing on the internet on company time. THEY WILL NOT LIKE
THAT.

Then write to corporate headquarters explaining what this idiot is doing
and telling them HOW BAD IT IS FOR THEIR COMPANY IMAGE. They will LOVE
that you brought this to their attention:

Cisco Systems, Inc.
170 West Tasman Dr.
San Jose, CA 95134
USA

Then also call them. You should always follow up email or letters with
phone calls. Always ask for supervisors or managers. Try to get as far up
as possible.

(408)526-4000
(800)553-NETS or
(800)553-6387

Contact Investor Relations and tell them you are interested in investing in
their company but won't do so until they get rid of this asshole who is
wasting company resources:

Cisco Systems, Inc.
Investor Relations Department
170 West Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA 95134-1706
Phone: (408) 526-8890
Fax: (408) 526-4545
Email:

Might as well contact customer service too, they LOVE to hear about this
type of stuff:

USA 1 800 553 6387




Then finally, send letters with copies of his nasty posts addressed
personally to each one of the OFFICERS of the company using the
headquarters address. Believe me, they READ your complaints and are VERY
INTERESTED in them, especially if it's about one of their employees. They
will take a PERSONAL interest in rooting this ASSHOLE out of their company:

John Morgridge, Chairman
John Chambers, President, CEO
Donald Valentine, Vice Chairman
Larry Carter, CFO, Sr. VP-Fin. and Admin., Sec., Director
Richard Justice, Sr. VP, Worldwide Field Operations

Have fun!

Max Mustermann wrote:

So what the **** do you care? You post nothing but **** tons of times a day.
Stop harassing the posters, asshole!

I see, Mr Nomen, when I followup to a post, it is harassment, but the
garbage you post isn't. What the hell is wrong with you? What is your
problem with one person posting an opposing view? Why is posting an
opposing view considered to be harassment? Do you think that my
employer is going to care that I believe someone should have the proper
visa to come to the US. You even post such trash when I am posting from
my own ISP, from my own home, on my own computer, on a Sunday.

Why can't you just deal with people in a rational matter, when they
disagree with your views? Maybe you should give up the drugs... Come
clean... I understand that your wife and your dog left you, but you can
build a better life for yourself in just 12 steps.

On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 19:51:54 GMT, devil wrote:

On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 19:31:39 +0000, Jim Ley wrote:

On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 17:54:49 GMT, mtravelkay wrote:

The solution is quite simple. When
traveling to a foreign country, make sure you know what kind of visa is
required.

but it's also, don't post any trip reports about the US to the
internet after visiting unless you travelled there on an appropriate
visa.

Why?

Surely the story was interesting, and of educational value for travelers.

Since the person does not have an appropriate visa for journalists,
publishing their report is in violation of the visa they had, whilst
they've now escaped the country, it will presumably harm any future
entries - as much as any other breach of visa conditions.

Jim.

"mtravelkay" wrote in message
om...
The journalist was attempting to enter the US on the Visa Waiver program
to do work that was not permitted by the VWP and that required a visa.
He indicated he has been entering without a visa for 10 years, so I
guess he thought he had right to better treatment than the people of
other nationalities he wrote about. The solution is quite simple. When
traveling to a foreign country, make sure you know what kind of visa is
required.

I have opposing thoughts on this. Firstly the journalist says he's
successfully travelled as a journalist to the US (including since 9/11) and
has had no problem, having nothing to hide, and it is suggested (although
not stated) that on each occasion at entry he has stated he is on a
journalistic assignment. It would be somewhat strange that the immigration
service would not know this from his previous entries: I know for a fact
that they know exactly when pax have entered the US previously at the
immigration booths. They have used this history once on me about ten years
ago in an attempt to falsely accuse me of being a drug courier. When they
found nothing on me they then proceeded unsuccessfully to try to falsely
nail me for laundering money. Rubber gloves, full cavity etc. Since that
time I have never once stopped me despite my half dozen or so trips to the
US each year since.

On the other side of the coin, what does worry me is that journalists have a
nasty habit of making a story larger than it really is in order to make up
column inches. There are parts of this story that don't add up to me. I
agree that it would be a stupid thing to attempt to enter a country without
having a correct visa, but in the old days you could usually simply purchase
the correct visa as necessary at the entry point. So the treatment does seem
rather harsh, although at least it wasn't Guantanamo Bay. I don't see why it
should affect tourism as the OP suggests on the basis that this guy was
entering on a work assignment, not as a tourist.

I would add that the role of the immigration officer (in the US, UK and
elsewhere) is often one of extreme subjectivity in applying rules, in
particular to those who don't have a vote in the country they're attempting
to enter. Sadly this means that often many of us have to suffer the wrath of
someone who got out of bed the wrong side that day in lieu of common sense -
and I'm being very diplomatic in my phraseology here.

Kind Regards, Howard

In "Howard Long"
wrote:

I would add that the role of the immigration officer (in the US, UK and
elsewhere) is often one of extreme subjectivity in applying rules, in
particular to those who don't have a vote in the country they're
attempting to enter.

Remember too that police the world over will always tell you that just
because they didn't arrest you for violating some particular law at some
time in the past doesn't mean that they won't decide to nab you for it
tomorrow.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN