Foreign Visitors Beware, You Too Could End Up In Jail
There should be a sign at each port of entry for foreign visitors to the United States: Bush administration says you're not welcome here...go home.
A visitor from Italy, one of the 27 countries where foreign visitors do not need a visa, only their passport, was sent in shackles to a Virginia jail for no reason.
According to the NYTimes: "He was a carefree Italian with a recent law degree from a Roman university. She was “a totally Virginia girl,” as she puts it, raised across the road from George Washington’s home. Their romance, sparked by a 2006 meeting in a supermarket in Rome, soon brought the Italian, Domenico Salerno, on frequent visits to Alexandria, Va., where he was welcomed like a favorite son by the parents and neighbors of his girlfriend, Caitlin Cooper.
"But on April 29, when Mr. Salerno, 35, presented his passport at Washington Dulles International Airport, a Customs and Border Protection agent refused to let him into the United States. And after hours of questioning, agents would not let him travel back to Rome, either; over his protests in fractured English, he said, they insisted that he had expressed a fear of returning to Italy and had asked for asylum.
"Though citizens of those nations do not need visas to enter the United States for as long as 90 days, their admission is up to the discretion of border agents.
"Ms. Cooper, 23, who had promised to show her boyfriend another side of her country on this visit — meaning Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon — eventually learned that he had been sent in shackles to a rural Virginia jail. And there he remained for more than 10 days, locked up without charges or legal recourse while Ms. Cooper, her parents and their well-connected neighbors tried everything to get him out.
“ 'We have a lot of government people here and lobbyists and lawyers and very educated, very savvy Washingtonians,” said Jim Cooper, Ms. Cooper’s father, a businessman, describing the reaction in his neighborhood, the Wessynton subdivision of Alexandria. “They were pretty shocked that the government could do this sort of thing, because it doesn’t happen that often, except to people you never hear about, like Haitians and Guatemalans.'
“ 'The border patrol officer said to my face that Domenico said he would be killed if he went back to Italy,' she recalled, voicing incredulity that, in his halting English, he could express such a thought. 'Also, who on earth would ever seek asylum from Italy?'
"Twelve hours later, when Mr. Salerno was granted a five-minute phone call, he called Ms. Cooper and denied saying anything of the kind. Instead, he said, the asylum story seemed to be retaliation for his insisting on speaking to his embassy.
"Ten days after he landed in Washington, Mr. Salerno was still incarcerated, despite efforts by Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, and two former immigration prosecutors hired by the Coopers.
"Luis Paoli, a lawyer hired by the Coopers, said there was no limit on detention while waiting for an asylum interview. But even after officials agreed the asylum issue had been a mistake, Mr. Salerno was not released.
“ 'Now an innocent European, who has never broken any laws, committed any crimes, or overstayed his visa, is being held in a county jail,' Ms. Cooper wrote in an e-mail message to The New York Times last Wednesday, prompting a reporter’s inquiries.
"Less than 24 hours later, immigration officials intervened and arranged to deliver Mr. Salerno to Dulles, where last Friday he flew to Rome.
"Mr. Salerno was still shaken. 'In America,' he said, 'there are so many good people and beautiful people that don’t deserve to be showing these terrible things to the world.' ”
This is insane. The Bush administration and its politicized agencies have ruined the country and destroyed its image throughout the world.
A visitor from Italy, one of the 27 countries where foreign visitors do not need a visa, only their passport, was sent in shackles to a Virginia jail for no reason.
According to the NYTimes: "He was a carefree Italian with a recent law degree from a Roman university. She was “a totally Virginia girl,” as she puts it, raised across the road from George Washington’s home. Their romance, sparked by a 2006 meeting in a supermarket in Rome, soon brought the Italian, Domenico Salerno, on frequent visits to Alexandria, Va., where he was welcomed like a favorite son by the parents and neighbors of his girlfriend, Caitlin Cooper.
"But on April 29, when Mr. Salerno, 35, presented his passport at Washington Dulles International Airport, a Customs and Border Protection agent refused to let him into the United States. And after hours of questioning, agents would not let him travel back to Rome, either; over his protests in fractured English, he said, they insisted that he had expressed a fear of returning to Italy and had asked for asylum.
"Though citizens of those nations do not need visas to enter the United States for as long as 90 days, their admission is up to the discretion of border agents.
"Ms. Cooper, 23, who had promised to show her boyfriend another side of her country on this visit — meaning Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon — eventually learned that he had been sent in shackles to a rural Virginia jail. And there he remained for more than 10 days, locked up without charges or legal recourse while Ms. Cooper, her parents and their well-connected neighbors tried everything to get him out.
“ 'We have a lot of government people here and lobbyists and lawyers and very educated, very savvy Washingtonians,” said Jim Cooper, Ms. Cooper’s father, a businessman, describing the reaction in his neighborhood, the Wessynton subdivision of Alexandria. “They were pretty shocked that the government could do this sort of thing, because it doesn’t happen that often, except to people you never hear about, like Haitians and Guatemalans.'
“ 'The border patrol officer said to my face that Domenico said he would be killed if he went back to Italy,' she recalled, voicing incredulity that, in his halting English, he could express such a thought. 'Also, who on earth would ever seek asylum from Italy?'
"Twelve hours later, when Mr. Salerno was granted a five-minute phone call, he called Ms. Cooper and denied saying anything of the kind. Instead, he said, the asylum story seemed to be retaliation for his insisting on speaking to his embassy.
"Ten days after he landed in Washington, Mr. Salerno was still incarcerated, despite efforts by Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, and two former immigration prosecutors hired by the Coopers.
"Luis Paoli, a lawyer hired by the Coopers, said there was no limit on detention while waiting for an asylum interview. But even after officials agreed the asylum issue had been a mistake, Mr. Salerno was not released.
“ 'Now an innocent European, who has never broken any laws, committed any crimes, or overstayed his visa, is being held in a county jail,' Ms. Cooper wrote in an e-mail message to The New York Times last Wednesday, prompting a reporter’s inquiries.
"Less than 24 hours later, immigration officials intervened and arranged to deliver Mr. Salerno to Dulles, where last Friday he flew to Rome.
"Mr. Salerno was still shaken. 'In America,' he said, 'there are so many good people and beautiful people that don’t deserve to be showing these terrible things to the world.' ”
This is insane. The Bush administration and its politicized agencies have ruined the country and destroyed its image throughout the world.
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