passenger plane (symbol photo)
Photo: Christian Charisius/ dpa
Australian student Jack Dunn had saved more than half a year for the trip.
First in the USA for the NBA playoffs and then backpacking through Mexico and South America, three to four months of adventure, that was his plan.
But the trip ended in a US federal prison, the Guardian reports.
In early May, Dunn resigned from his job as a youth worker and boarded a plane to Honolulu.
But after landing on May 5, the student was denied entry to the United States: he could not show how he planned to leave the United States on the planned onward journey.
Dunn had applied for a visa waiver, so he would have needed a return flight or proof of onward travel to a non-US country.
But, he insists, he didn't know.
So officers took him to an interrogation room.
According to the Guardian, Dunn wanted to book a connecting flight there, to Panama or Guatemala, but the attempts failed: not enough money in the account, no internet on the cell phone.
At the end of the interrogation it was said: The student could not enter the USA because he could not refute the suspicion that he wanted to immigrate there.
He also does not have enough financial means to cover his living expenses for the duration of the planned stay.
Blood and feces on the wall
Dunn was reportedly taken to the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu in handcuffs, where he said he was asked to undress after being searched under the testicles and anus for contraband.
The treatment in prison was bad, says Dunn: no cell phone, no contact with his parents, a cell with blood and faeces on the wall.
He was also told to sleep on the concrete floor with a paper bag as a pillow.
A Border Patrol spokesman told the Guardian he could not go into individual cases, but the agency regretted any inconvenience a passenger may have encountered during transit.
Dunn reportedly spent about 30 hours in detention before being taken back to the airport on a plane bound for Sydney.
The student's family filed a complaint with the Border Patrol Agency about the treatment and behavior of the individual officer.
“The information should be put on the Smarttraveller website because everyone goes there to check the rules.
I don't want anyone else going through what I'm going through, it's just not right," Dunn said.
According to the Guardian, the Australian Foreign Ministry has confirmed that several Australians have already been affected by this regulation and have been sent back at the border.
Crucial information is missing from the websites
The US government websites that explain eligibility for the Visa Waiver Program and that Smarttraveller recommends to Australians make no mention of the specific entry requirement that led to Dunn's deportation.
The Guardian writes that the US Embassy website and several US government websites to which travelers are referred also lack such a notice.
When asked by the newspaper if the ministry was aware of the entry rules, a spokesman said it was "aware of a number of cases where an Australian citizen has been deported from the United States," but could not provide further details.
Dunn says he suffered panic attacks because of his arrest.
He has meanwhile tried to go on another holiday in Thailand.
But he reportedly had to return home because of multiple seizures.
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