Military wife says she was detained, deported when trying to visit husband on vacation
HONOLULU (KHNL/Gray News) - Nicolle Saroukos says she was looking forward to a three-week vacation starting last weekend in Honolulu with her mom while visiting her husband.
“That’s where my mother and father had their honeymoon, so it held a very sentimental place in her heart,” Saroukos, 25, said.
It was Saroukos’ third visit to see her husband, Matt, a U.S. Army lieutenant stationed on Oahu. The newlyweds got married last December.
She said she hadn’t had issues before, but this time, U.S. border officials at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport flagged her for additional screening.
According to Saroukos, the official checking their ports went from completely composed to just yelling at the top of his lungs while telling her mother to go stand at the back of the line.
“I automatically started crying because that was my first response,” she said.
Saroukos said they were then taken to a holding room, their bags and phones were searched, and they were asked a slew of questions — everything from her work as a former police officer to whether her tattoos were gang-related to her marriage to an American.
“When I said that I was married to somebody in the U.S. Army, the officers laughed at me. They thought it was quite comical. I don’t know whether they thought I was telling the truth or not,” she said.
Adding, “They kept telling me that I had too many clothes in my suitcase. So because of that, they assumed that I was going to overstay my visa.”
Saroukos was subject to more screening. Her fingerprints and a DNA swab of her mouth were taken.
Meanwhile, her mother was free to go.
Saroukos said her heart sank when officials told her she would be denied entry to the U.S. and deported back to Australia the next day.
“[The officer] said ‘so basically what is going to happen is we’re going to send you to a prison overnight where you will stay,’” she said. “Not detention center, he said, prison, and I automatically just started crying again.”
According to Saroukos, border officials told her they would her husband on her behalf, but she found out later they didn’t.
Saroukos said officials conducted a body cavity search, walked her through the airport in handcuffs, and drove her to a federal detention center.
“They told me that I wasn’t under arrest and didn’t do anything wrong and was facing no criminal charges. So, I was very confused as to why this was all happening,” she said.
At the prison, Saroukossaid she was strip-searched and detained with women who had been convicted of murder and drug offenses.
Because she had missed the cutoff for dinner, she was not given food and not allowed to call her husband or mother, she recalled.
“I found that so absurd because I should have been able to at least one person,” Saroukos said.
Saroukos shared that she was brought back to the airport early the next morning, where she received a call from the Australian Consulate General in Honolulu. Her mother had ed them after not knowing what had happened to her daughter. Saroukos told them to tell her mother to fly back with her on the same flight.
Later, she said she was also offered a phone call with her husband.
“I think we were both just very emotional. We hadn’t spoken to each other in 24 hours. He didn’t know where I was or whether I was safe,” she said.
Adding, “It’s not only myself, it’s my mother and my husband that also had to endure that pain, my husband being a current serving member, to serve his country and to be treated in that way, I find very disgusting.”
Saroukos’ husband is now on leave in Sydney and the two are together. He said he waited for hours at Honolulu airport that day, asking officials what happened to his wife, but no one gave him answers.
He said he was finally told she was taken to the detention center, but was not allowed to see or talk to her there.
Saroukos said she’s sharing her experience to warn people of the increased risks of traveling to the U.S.
“It’s made it physically impossible for me to even ever enter the United States ever again,” she said.
When asked how the experience will affect her marriage, Saroukos said the couple is still trying to figure it out.
“I felt like my world came crashing down. I felt like my marriage was over when they told me that,” she said. “That’s something that they’ve taken away from me as well.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it is working on a statement regarding the situation. A spokesperson said decisions on U.S. entry are complex and taken very seriously, and many factors are considered.
Immigration attorneys said detainees are entitled to a phone call if they are held for several hours.
The Hawaii American Immigration Lawyers Association has a Deportation Defense Hotline at 808-204-5951. Loved ones are advised to call the detainee’s consulate in the United States so consular officials can check on the detainee’s whereabouts and condition.
Saroukos’ husband said he called the hotline after seeing a previous story and talked to an attorney.
“Before, if someone was denied ission at the airport and CBP (Customs and Border Protection) was going to put them on the next flight back to their home country, CBP used to release the person with instructions to return to the airport for the flight. These days, it is more common for CBP to have the person wait for that flight back home while detained in FDC,” immigration attorney Esther Yoo said.
Yoo added, “CBP has the last say as to whether someone is itted or not. If an individual is seeking to enter on a tourist visa, CBP typically asks questions to figure out whether the person intends to immigrate here. An intent to immigrate would violate the conditions of the tourist visa. CBP looks at things like whether the person plans to work or get married to a U.S. citizen while they’re here as indicators of immigrant intent.”
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