Arbitrariness at the U.S. Borders - German Tourists in Deportation Detention – Welcome to Trump’s America

Welcome to the United States of Donald Trump. A country that once welcomed tourists with open arms is now locking up German travelers in deportation prisons without cause, treating them like criminals and destroying lives because of alleged misunderstandings or minor formal errors.

Lucas Sielaff - A Tourist in Deportation Jail

Twenty-five-year-old Lucas Sielaff wanted nothing more than to take a simple trip to Mexico with his fiancée. But upon returning on February 18, 2025, he fell into the hands of a brutal system. At the San Ysidro border station, U.S. border officers asked the usual question: “Where do you live?” Sielaff, whose English is not perfect, answered that he lived in Las Vegas, where his fiancée actually resides. A misunderstanding that became his downfall. The officers decided that his tourist visa was no longer valid. No opportunity to explain, no interpreter, no chance to clarify anything.

Instead of simply placing him on the next flight back to Germany, as used to be the case, Sielaff was held at the border for two days and then transferred to the notorious Otay Mesa Detention Center in California. Two weeks in detention, without knowing what was happening to him. Without legal protection, without help. His fiancée Lennon Tyler is stunned: “He was not allowed to speak to a lawyer. I was threatened that I would be arrested myself if I did not leave.” The U.S. border protection staff threatened to put her dog in a cage and seize her car. A totalitarian nightmare in the middle of America. Harassment and arbitrariness instead of the rule of law.

Sielaff’s case is not an isolated incident. German tattoo artist Jessica Brösche has been held in the same facility since late January, also without any understandable reason. And they are not the only ones. British citizen Becky Burke was stopped at the Canadian border in late February and immediately placed in a deportation prison with the absurd allegation that she planned to work illegally. “Why does my daughter have to sit in an orange prison jumpsuit for weeks while authorities check her paperwork?” her father asked angrily on the BBC. A justified question. Because in most countries of the world, people without valid entry permission would simply be sent back, not locked up.

Deportation Detention for Tourists - The New Reality Under Trump - Since Trump took office, the United States has radically changed. The border protection agency CBP has been given increasing authority to deny entry even with a valid ESTA waiver. Anyone wanting to enter the United States now risks being labeled an unwanted person and detained for weeks without any legal protection.

Inside the detention centers, conditions prevail that one usually associates only with dictatorships. According to reports, detainees are harassed, mistreated, and pressured to give up their visas or Green Cards. The Department of Justice is already investigating intentionally inflated egg prices, but who is investigating the unscrupulous persecution and imprisonment of innocent travelers?

Germany’s Reaction Is Virtually Nonexistent The German consulate general has been informed, but there is little it can do. While Sielaff’s fiancée Lennon Tyler urgently warns, “Do not come here. Especially not with ESTA and definitely not across the Mexican land border,” the U.S. administration hides behind bureaucracy and remains silent in the face of the accusations.

Europe can no longer stand by while its citizens become victims of an increasingly harsh immigration policy in the United States. It is time for the German government to respond forcefully at the diplomatic level. Until then, only one recommendation remains for anyone planning to travel to the United States on a tourist visa:

Stay home. The United States is no longer the country you think you know.