Sister banged up in a detention centre in US

LegacyUser

Hi there, not sure if I am even in the correct forum so please feel free to move my posting.

My Sister has been in the US for the past 12 years, 11 of them legally but decided to come home last Jan. Unfortunately she kept putting it off and off until she was there illegally as her work permit had run out.

She got caught by immigration last Tuesday on a bus in Buffalo County New York.

She has been held since in a detention centre in Eerie county.

The problem is none of us are allowed to contact her or speak to her, we have rang the centre, we have tried the embassy, the US marshall, all just pass us off.

My mother is going out of her mind with worry and its very frustrating for us her family.

I know she was in the wrong over staying but now we would love to just have her get home and have it over with.

Has anybody else experienced this, are these detention centres horrible places like suggested and how did you manage to get home?

Thanks

PeakOutput

either get in touch with the american embassy in ireland or the closest irish embassy to were she is.

or

call the foreign affairs office(no idea of the number or were to get it but the foreing affairs minister is dermot ahern)

good luck

dudara

There is a boards.us forum. You might get some better responses if you post there.

I would also suggest getting in touch with the American Embassy in Ballsbridge.

bushy...

http://www.ice.gov/ might be something useful there

meglome

Happened to a friend of mine who overstayed a visa about 7 years ago (for 3 months). Last year she was heading through the states to New Zealand and stopping in Los Angeles for one night to meet a friend. She was taken away in handcuffs, questioned for hours and told that she would be deported back to Ireland. They kept her in a cell and then put her on the plane to New Zealand. Welcome to the fascist state people.

Your sister will be fine they'll go through the motions and give her a hard time. Then once there happy that they've busted her chops enough they'll send her back. She'll come to no harm but they really are a bunch of pricks.

I'm going to Australia next year and I'm travelling through Asia on the way out and the way back.

Victor

This is likely to be mostly an immigration issue, not criminal. She is likely to be deported and that may take several weeks. She is likely to be held in detention for the entire time.

Try to talk to someone in the Irish consulate in New York, they can probably arrange or recommend a lawyer, although you / your sister will have to pay for this. http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id=5535

I'm not sure how to word this, but tell your mum to relax, everything will work out.

You could try to arrange for someone to visit her and / or look after her place. If you communicate with her, ask if she needs anything.

Manic Moran

I think Victor's about hit the nail on the head. It's one of the occupational hazards of staying in the country illegally, but remember that it's not in anyone's interest in the US to keep her for any great length of time: They'd much rather kick her out of the country and free up room in the detention centre. She's not going to end up in the Black Hole of Guantanmo or anything.

If you have the mailing address of the centre, you should at least be able to get a letter through to her in the interim. US rules on the primacy of the mail are pretty tough.

NTM

daveirl

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ceidefields

If you think it only takes weeks to process a deportation, you're sorely mistaken. It's not like they post deportation processing times on the web.

OP - find an immigration lawyer. If you need the name of one, let me know. I have immigration lawyer in NJ who handles deportation cases out of Hackensack but he would at least be able to refer you to someone else, if not take care of it.

What this will do is speed up the process and open communication. I don't think anyone at either Embassy is going to give a rats ass or be any help tbh. And staying one day in LA and getting caught is NOT comparable to overstaying your work visa. Although I've yet to hear of a work visa that lasts 11 years because the max for H1-B is seven.

Ruu_Old

A friend of mine was recently deported after being there for over 15 years. He got himself in a spot of bother with the law and he was found out that way, they held him for quite a while though (a few months from what I remember) and then deported him.
Contacting the nearest Irish consulate is probably the best thing you can do, maybe someone there can find out the status of your sister. Best of luck and hope it works out.

meglome

daveirl wrote:

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Nothing at all wrong with that. It's the way they do it I have a problem with. For instance a friend of mine was caught in Australia over staying that year long working visa. They just told her to get on a plane or else she'd be locked up. So she got on a plane and left within a couple of days.

To be taken away in handcuffs, interrogated for hours by different people, threatened with deportation (so round the world holiday is over before it starts), locked in a prison cell. All for overstaying a visa 7 years earlier for three months. They are treating everyone like a terrorist, even middle class Irish women whose holiday paperwork all checks out with even a cursory look.

queenlex

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

with all due respect Dave I cant imagine the Irish authorities being heavy handed the way the Americans are, a lot of Americans seem to think guantanamo is ok!! :eek:

6th

So what affect does something like this have on any other travel plans someone might have in the future?

[Jackass]

If you overstayed a visa and lived there illegally you can't go back, or face a few weeks/months in jail if caught followed by deportation. And as far as i know is cross checked with everyone coming in at the airport.

My cousin can never go back because he worked cash in hand at a bar for an extra 3 months after visa expired.

Seems completely insane, but then again, we are all a threat to americas highly developed sense of freedom. You are only a guest on their planet, let alone their much respected nation. Start behaving like it!

davyjose

Nick wrote:

My cousin can never go back because he worked cash in hand at a bar for an extra 3 months after visa expired.

AFAIK it's a ten year ban. OP, Victor is correct, this will all work out and she'll be deported, then banned for 10 years.

free2fly

queenlex wrote:

a lot of Americans seem to think guantanamo is ok!! :eek:

I'm not sure where you heard that queenlex, but most Americans I know certainly don't think that.

OP - I live in Boston but if there's anything I can do to help please PM me.

tampopo

Yeah, a 10 year ban is standard.

carveone

They take their immigration thing pretty seriously all right. I had one issue where I forgot to hand back the Visa form that's clipped into your passport. Next time I entered the country I had a bit of frowning from the immigration officer but as it was a land crossing from Canada I was OK and was allowed to continue my journey. I was pretty freaked out though...

That's where you have a bit of leeway I believe. If you overstay a short while, make sure you keep that bit of paper - do not let the airline take it from you. Then when you arrive back in Ireland, you post the visa paper back to the visa office with an grovelling letter saying you exited the country on time but the airline forgot to take the visa. Happens all the time. Immigration keep track of people coming in, not going out.

To the OP, I don't believe the immigration detention centres are like prison. They have a code of conduct and hopefully they abide by it. This link might give you an idea:
http://www.ice.gov/partners/dro/opsmanual/index.htm

It'll be pretty damn unpleasant, but she'll be in no danger.

Good luck,

Conor.

Victor

carveone wrote:

That's where you have a bit of leeway I believe. If you overstay a short while, make sure you keep that bit of paper - do not let the airline take it from you. Then when you arrive back in Ireland, you post the visa paper back to the visa office with an grovelling letter saying you exited the country on time but the airline forgot to take the visa. Happens all the time. Immigration keep track of people coming in, not going out.

I believe you are wrong. Immigration track all your movements and it is immigration that takes the Parole card when you are leaving.

http://images.google.ie/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4SKPB_enIE208IE222&q=A3.7(a)%20I-94W&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi

carveone

Victor wrote:

I believe you are wrong. Immigration track all your movements and it is immigration that takes the Parole card when you are leaving.

I'm sorry then - it must have changed since I was back and forth in 2004/2005. It used to be that an airline official took the I-94s at check-in or at boarding time, which is why so many of them used to go missing or unpulled.

One thing's for certain though, if they take the I-94 when you leave and you have overstayed, you're done for the next time you enter the US.

Conor.

ircoha

what does the title of this post mean? I think it is designed to attract attention

<<Sister banged up in a detention centre in US>>

Where I come from, banged up means something else

_Kaiser_

ircoha wrote:

what does the title of this post mean? I think it is designed to attract attention

<<Sister banged up in a detention centre in US>>

Where I come from, banged up means something else

Umm.. banged up = locked up???

Of course it's designed to attract attention - the OP is naturally worried!

beanyb

carveone wrote:

I'm sorry then - it must have changed since I was back and forth in 2004/2005. It used to be that an airline official took the I-94s at check-in or at boarding time, which is why so many of them used to go missing or unpulled.

One thing's for certain though, if they take the I-94 when you leave and you have overstayed, you're done for the next time you enter the US.

Conor.

The airlines still take your I-94 cards. I came back from a J1 at the end of August, so unless they've changed it in the last month, it's still the airlines. They were really laidback about it, and only made one announcement at the gate about people needing to hand them back.

I'm sorry to hear about your sister OP. It wont be a fun experience, that's for sure, but they'll deport her eventually. She shouldnt be in any danger, but I know it must be incredibly worrying anyway.

Manic Moran

Kaiser2000 wrote:

Umm.. banged up = locked up???

Banged up can also mean 'in the motherly way' or just 'beaten about a bit'

NTM

davyjose

Manic Moran wrote:

Banged up can also mean 'in the motherly way' or just 'beaten about a bit'

NTM

Yeah but in this case it didn't. It's so very tragic that the title of this thread is so offensive :rolleyes: what a mean thing to do!!!

Dave!

Banged up is a common and acceptable term for 'locked up'/jailed. It may have other meanings but in this situation it does not.

OP I'd say your mother is really worried! But try to console her. Your sister will be deported and banned, they're not gonna be keeping her there or anything like that.

Meanwhile get onto the Department of Foreign Affairs, the American Embassy in Dublin, the Irish Embassy in Washington, and maybe someone from the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (I'm sure they'd have alot of helpful info, even if you don't agree with their agenda).

Another thing you could do is ring up Joe Duffy :rolleyes: It's certainly a drastic step! But you might get info from listeners or someone from the aforementioned embassies/depts might be contacted on your behalf.

Just an idea.

Good luck to you.

mickoneill30

carveone wrote:

They take their immigration thing pretty seriously all right. I had one issue where I forgot to hand back the Visa form that's clipped into your passport. Next time I entered the country I had a bit of frowning from the immigration officer but as it was a land crossing from Canada I was OK and was allowed to continue my journey. I was pretty freaked out though...

You get frowning from the immigration officers no matter what. My company was sending me to Boston for training last year. I was begining to get worried I was on some watchlist with all the questions and fingerprinting and funny looks I was getting from the immigration lady in Shannon.

Kernel32

NoIdeawottodo wrote:

My Sister has been in the US for the past 12 years, 11 of them legally but decided to come home last Jan. Unfortunately she kept putting it off and off until she was there illegally as her work permit had run out.

What type of visa could you be in the US for 11 years legally that would suddenly run out? Green card doesn't run out, it expires and you just renew with the INS. H1B is employer sponsored and is normally 5 years. I doubt you can stretch 11 years out of a J1, so what am I missing here?