After five weeks in Thailand and New Zealand, eighteen-year-old Charlotte Pohl and her nineteen-year-old friend Marie Lepere were looking forward to the highlight of their around-the-world trip: a three-week vacation in the Aloha State of Hawaii and a tour of the United States before returning to their hometown in Rostock, Germany.
A Nightmare Holiday began after arriving in Hawaii.
Arriving at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu (HNL) after a 7 1/2 hour flight from Japan on Sunday, they felt the gentle trade winds on their way to the federal detention center, in handcuffs.
Before this they they were separated and interrogated by US immigration officers for hours. After changing into prison clothes, it became clear that their dream vacation had ended. They ended up in deportation detention after being stripsearched to be sent to Tokyo the next day, transferring to Qatar Airways via Doha to Frankfurt.
What was their crime?
Most American visitors stay in Hawaii for 2-5 days. Most Germans, however, stay for an average of 2 weeks. A three-week stay was more than suspicious for the Trump administration to allow them to enter the United States. They had all their paperwork, ESTA Authorization, ongoing airline reservations, enough money and credit cards, and a place to stay for the first week.
They had no criminal record and were into week 6 of their around-the-world travel.
According to them, a US immigration officer made them sign a confession that they entered the United States to work.
Charlotte and Marie said they never “confessed” to this, and never had a plan to work. They wanted to experience the Aloha Spirit of hospitality, so many in the world are talking about.
Instead, they were held in a cold prison cell with a thin blanket and a small towel.
Aloha turned into Hell.
The ladies are planning to submit a protest to the German Foreign Ministry. They also told a newspaper in Rostock that they were planning another vacation to Mexico and Costa Rica, but never to the United States again.
Are Germans on the US Immigration Target list?
This is the second high-profile case within one month of German tourists arrested when entering the United States with legal papers and no ill intent. This case triggered travel advisories by the Federal Republic of Germany to their citizens to alert of unpredictable and strict enforcement by US Immigration.