Two teenage German tourists, Charlotte Pohl (19) and Maria Lepere (18), were deported from Hawaii in unsettling ways, turning their holiday of a lifetime into a nightmare. What began as a vacation to see Auckland’s Hawaii, California, and Costa Rica shortly transformed into hours of interrogation, detention, and forced deportation.
Upon arrival at Honolulu, officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) became suspicious about the couple’s elastic travel schedule, especially not having pre-arranged housing for their five-week visit. Even though they had ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) clearance, they were picked up on grounds of possible unauthorized work.
The German Foreign Office, who offered consular assistance, states that ‘ESTA approval is not a guarantee of entry into the United States’, as ultimate entry is subject to the border officers’ discretion.
Strip-Searched and Jailed
Pohl and Lepere were held for hours of questioning before they were handcuffed and taken to a detention center. They were there subjected to full-body scans, strip searches, and clad in green prison uniforms. They spent the night on thin, moldy mattresses with long-term detainees some with serious criminal charges were warned not to eat expired food.
The two were taken back to Honolulu Airport the following morning and deported in handcuffs. On their request, they were flown to Japan instead of Germany to save the longer route back to New Zealand.
Travel Policy Issues
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently spoke to European visitors’ concerns, saying: “If you’re not coming to the United States to join a Hamas protest. then you have nothing to worry about.”
The incident has raised alarms regarding the volatility of U.S. border policy. Germany subsequently revised its travel warning to caution that admission to the U.S. ‘is in the sole discretion of U.S. border officials’.
This episode highlights the need for well-defined accommodation arrangements, a structured itinerary, and financial evidence even when traveling on ESTA.
