An Australian man says he was detained and deported from the United States while returning from his sister’s memorial, despite holding a valid working visa. Jonathan, who spoke on condition of anonymity, alleges border officials called him “retarded” and boasted that “Trump is back in town”.
The incident occurred in March at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Jonathan, who had been living on the US east coast for nearly a decade, was pulled aside and taken to a secondary inspection room. He says officials accused him of selling drugs, demanded his phone passcode, and told him he had no rights.
During the encounter, Jonathan claims an officer asked if he was “deaf or just retarded”. Another official later told him his visa had been cancelled and he was banned from entering the US for five years, including as a transit passenger. He was handed a document stating he was an “immigrant not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa”.
Jonathan says he has entered and left the US about 20 times before without issue on the same class of visa, which still had over a year of validity. He was placed on a flight to Australia and now faces separation from his American partner, apartment, and work studio.
