22 ms·

The government should have just denied her entry if they believed she would violate her visa. I don’t understand the cause for detaining and putting her on the

The government should have just denied her entry if they believed she would violate her visa. I don’t understand the cause for detaining and putting her on the path to deportation.

notimetorelax 2y ago
Wouldn’t it be in the interest of the detention facility to have detainees?
- madeofpalk 2y ago
  Surely the detention facility wasn't responsible for sending her to a detention facility.
  - actionfromafar 2y ago
    The "agents" rounding people up are refusing to identify themselves.
alephnerd 2y ago
[flagged]
- casenmgreen 2y ago
  You don't make examples of people. You treat them equally by the law. You do not put people in solitary confinement for nine days - or twenty days - and without giving them any idea of what is happening, or notifying anyone where they are. This is cruel and unusual punishment.
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - madeofpalk 2y ago
      It is astonishing that your response to people facing injustice is that more people should face injustice.
      - homebrewer 2y ago
        No, he's just pointing out the double standards, and I agree with this sentiment. It's very difficult to visit the US (or really any Western country) with my passport, and always has been. You have to put in a lot of money and collect many pieces of paper for even a tourist visit (forget about working there or — god forbid — trying to legally immigrate), and there's a large chance you will be denied regardless. Nobody gives a flying fuck about this.
        chronos00 2y ago
        The outrage here is that she was detained. One thing is to be denied entry even when you did everything right, another is to be detained for an indefinite period of time.
      - alephnerd 2y ago
        Yep. Becuase I'm tired of this holier than thou crap. It's very easy to follow visa laws as a German national to the US. You don't face any of the same amounts of hurdles that non-Western nationals face. And your countries would treat us the same if we didn't have a US passport (I remember those experiences in Frankfurt Airport before and after I got the American passport)
    - elric 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - alephnerd 2y ago
        Because EU nations aren't going to change their attitude, and would continue to treat non-western passport holders in the same way as her. Maybe now Germans know how it feels for a Turkish or Moroccan national who is working on a visit or family visa and looking behind their shoulder.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- madeofpalk 2y ago
  As an immigrant myself, I think it is cruel and inhumane to hold someone in detention indefinitely for unspecified accusations. I think it is cruel to wish this upon others like you have done.
- zuppy 2y ago
  if you think that holding someone in solitary confinement plus another month in jail is a valid response for her case, i think you are a bad person. i’m sorry that german border control treated you badly, but that woman did nothing wrong to you.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- alextingle 2y ago
  I'm not sure I understand. What do you feel she did wrong?
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - casenmgreen 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - alephnerd 2y ago
        And AfD now has 152 seats in the Bundestag, and as a result the CDU/CSU will have to become equally anti-immigrant. This is the only way Germans will learn, just like the only way us Americans will learn about the dangers of populism is getting burnt and abused by DOGE.
      - dang 2y ago
        "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        casenmgreen 2y ago
        Apologies.
- HackerThemAll 2y ago
  The thing is, in Europe, precisely in European Union, people can travel and work freely with minimum formalities across all 28 EU countries and in Norway. It's easy for European citizen (and the person in question was from Germany which is an EU member) to forget that some countries are still that deeply not civilized. Notwithstanding that, the person should just be deported immediately, but instead was detained for multiple weeks. Is it how it supposed to be dealing with visitors? Is America great again already?
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - HackerThemAll 2y ago
      [flagged]
    - fishmaster 2y ago
      [flagged]
    - twh1293819 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - alephnerd 2y ago
        [flagged]
  - mytailorisrich 2y ago
    "still that deeply not civilized." All countries, including EU countries put restrictions on foreigners coming for work and require specific visas. And rightly so. Not sure how to interpret your quip...
- fishmaster 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - dang 2y ago
    You can't attack another user like this here. If you do it again, we will ban you, so please don't do it again. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
- mrighele 2y ago
  > Before I got my US passport, the German immigration staff would always treat me like shit, but with the US passport, I'd make sure to flaunt it so I'm not treated like yet another South Asian or Middle Eastern national. Given the behavior of the current administration, I fear soon you will be back to be treated the old way even with US passport.
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    > I fear soon you will be back to be treated the old way And if it comes to that I'll leave for my ancestral country or for a Gulf State at a G42 or ADIA type organization.
- marissachan 2y ago
  Oh? My understanding so far was that she claims to have wanted to visit a friend in the USA, and is only accused of wanting to work. Can you please pinpoint to me where you got the information?
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    > CBP agents at the border accused Brösche of planning to violate the terms of the visa waiver program by intending to work as a tattoo artist during her trip to LA, Lofving said
    - marissachan 2y ago
      Yes. Accused. That article does not mention anything else. I personally believe that just an accusation is NOT enough to justify that treatment. In fact I don't believe that even if she did intend to work the correct thing would have been to send her back. But an accusation?!
      - alephnerd 2y ago
        When transiting an international border in the US, visa status information is available to CBP along with a quick perusal of the person's social media (EU states do the same if not in a VWP program). Her social media has shown she was working as a tattoo artist on tour in LA with dates - direct violation of the VWP because it's an employment role.
  - mr_mitm 2y ago
    This is her instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessica.lia.tt/?hl=de https://www.instagram.com/jessica.lia.tt/?hl=de She lists LA like a tour date in her bio. I'm not sure if that already qualifies as intent to work in the eyes of border patrol though. But it might.
- sfcl33t 2y ago
  This makes no sense. What law do you think she violated? And you're certainly painting Latin immigrants with a wide brush, there are a TON of us who came in illegally.
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    On the VWP, you cannot work - it's a visit visa. If my parents broke the terms of their visas when they immigrated or my wife when she came on her F1 we all would face similar experiences. Same in Germany as well.
    - piva00 2y ago
      They could have just denied entry though.
      - alephnerd 2y ago
        It's a visa violation, so the rules require a formal deportation as a deterrent. A country like Germany or France does the same as well. Hopefully European nations will reform their immigration system based on this, but based on the German election results, there's no hope.
        chronos00 2y ago
        Expedited removal is part of their existing authority to deal with fraud and misrepresentation with visa entry requirements. It only requires a few hours to process and results in a five year ban from the United States as a deterrent. Detaining someone indefinitely under these specific circumstances is not something that happens in France and Germany. And until now wasn’t something that was happening in the United States. https://immigrationforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Fact-Sheet-on-Expedited-Removal.pdf https://immigrationforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Fact...
        piva00 2y ago
        Formal deportation does not require imprisonment for weeks, I personally know someone deported on arrival from Spain and they were sent back to their home country a few hours later. There's no reason to do it, it costs more for the country deporting someone, it doesn't improve the deterrence since the deported will be banned from entry for a while. > but based on the German election results, there's no hope. I don't understand what you mean by this.
- idiotsecant 2y ago
  I think in a perfect and just universe, the most fitting end for this post would be for it to be perfectly preserved, with your actual name, in perpetuity, in the worlds most popular and enduring history textbook. Imagine your children's grandchildren reading this sublime example of the casual banal brutality of our time, even among regular everyday people. I sincerely hope for that future for you, and for all of us.
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    Absolutely. I would yell this from the rooftops loud and proud if I was running for office in the Bay Area as a D (because I worked with them early in my career and am a party member). Most 1st and 1.5gen Asian and Latiné Americans would agree with this statement I gave.
    - ANDgaf2 2y ago
      [flagged]
  - yusaythat 2y ago
    I agree that a month was far too long and she should have been sent back much sooner. But, she 100% intended to violate her visa and I simply can't imagine calling a criminal being imprisoned for 1 month before being sent home, "brutality".
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- kergonath 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    > This is complete bollocks. She did not try these shenanigans. VWP is NOT a work visa. It's a visit visa.
    - kergonath 2y ago
      Not even that. It is not a visa. It is a bit of virtual paper that says you don’t need one. Where did I imply it was a work visa?
  - dang 2y ago
    Please don't respond to a bad comment by breaking the site guidelines yourself. That only makes things worse. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- dang 2y ago
  You started a hellish flamewar with this, and perpetuated it badly downthread. That's seriously not ok and we ban accounts that do it, so please don't do it again. It's not what this site is for, it destroys what it is for, and it evokes worse from others. Not cool. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html p.s. Also, you posted this twice. Please don't do that. (The other one was https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43229712 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43229712 and I've marked it as a dupe and merged the replies here now.)
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    Fair enough, no argument from me there! I appreciate your moderation effort Dang! I was way out of line and not in a great mental headspace, and deserved to be flagged to oblivion. Thank you for moderating this board!
dharmab 2y ago
The administration has set an arrest quota for ICE, and ICE is far below where the administration wants them: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/01/nx-s1-5313059/immigration-ice-arrests-misleading-claims-kristi-noem-dhs https://www.npr.org/2025/03/01/nx-s1-5313059/immigration-ice... > The most recent DHS data released this week shows that fewer than 600 people per day have been booked into ICE detention facilities across the country during the first three weeks of February — well below the pace of 1,200 to 1,500 arrests a day that administration officials have said they want.
BLKNSLVR 2y ago
I think the key is "private contractor". The more detainees they have, and the longer they have them, the more they get paid.
demuxed 2y ago
You can simply search her name to find out what’s actually going on instead of trusting a rage-bait article with no details. She was detained because this wasn’t her first time doing this. They are accusing her of working the last time she was in the U.S. under the VWP. As a result, she is likely being held for prosecution and will be barred from returning. A quick search shows that in the past, she had posted on social media about being in the U.S. and working. It’s likely that her equipment raised a red flag, and during additional screening, they found those posts. It’s unfortunate for her, but ultimately, it was her own doing. I know plenty of digital nomads who work in the U.S. without proper visas, but the difference is they keep a low profile. Visa laws aren’t unique to the U.S., and most countries take violations seriously. In fact, the U.S. isn’t even among the strictest. There’s plenty to be outraged about in the world without making things up. edit: I'm not going to justify this reddit post with any sources. It's obviously bait and 20 seconds of googling confirms it.
- casenmgreen 2y ago
  Guilt does not justify how she was treated.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- anon373839 2y ago
  This is all a deflection from the inhumane treatment she has received. But I can’t tell: are you deflecting because it’s an uncomfortable topic, or because you genuinely don’t care that human beings are being treated this way?
  - demuxed 2y ago
    How was she treated that's inhumane? What specifically do you take issue with? If you'd like to go through the article and provide actual examples I'll help you with being a critical reader. When it says something "amounts" to solitary confinment, that isn't the same as saying she was held in solitary confinment. That's shifty reporting trying to spin the facts without the legal repercussions of directly lying. When you get to the part about her having violent outbursts and punching walls until there is "blood everywhere" you might then ask yourself "could this person be a risk to themselves or a cell mate" or maybe "what are the international consequences if she were to harm herself or someone else while in custody?" The world is never black and white and there are plenty of these points in the article where you should be asking questions and maybe looking to other sources for answers. The article is using her friend/girlfriend as the primary source, even though she is clearly biased and has no actual information, which she has no right to given she isn't a family member, her lawyer, or the German consulate. It's almost like they are purposely ignoring the actual facts and are trying to manufacture an emotional response to get this to go viral and somehow receive a more favorable outcome. Seriously, find an article that isn't tabloid quality. Even better, do a search of reputable German news sources like der Spiegel. If she were actually being hidden away and mistreated they would be reporting on it in Germany. From the few facts that are available, it sounds like she would have been released and sent back to Germany had she just admitted she fucked up and plead guilty. My guess, mostly just based on the fact that she was punching walls in jail, she lacks some degree of emotional intelligence, doesn't like the idea of being barred from the US, and thinks she can fight it and win. Now she has to remain in custody until she is tried, which will likely be fairly soon, or a deal is worked out. These are processes that were agreed on (and as the last couple sentences of the article mentions is actively being handled) between the respective governments. Anyone caught doing the same in Germany would face similar consequences. I think what a lot of commenters here don't realize is that most western countries, including the US and Germany, have artist visas for this specific scenario. These are relatively easy to get and would have allowed her to do what she was doing. Instead she chose to commit a federal offense and is paying the price for that choice. I'm not mentioning this to deflect, I'm directly responding to the article which tries to make it sound like she was "doing everything right" and is being unjustly held. Jail isn't great but it's not actual torture. It's mostly just uncomfortable and extremely boring. It's not anymore cruel or tortuous than it has to be given the circumstances.

The government should have just denied her entry if they believed she would violate her visa. I don’t understand the cause for detaining and putting her on the path to deportation.

notimetorelax 2y ago

Wouldn’t it be in the interest of the detention facility to have detainees?

madeofpalk 2y ago
Surely the detention facility wasn't responsible for sending her to a detention facility.
- actionfromafar 2y ago
  The "agents" rounding people up are refusing to identify themselves.

alephnerd 2y ago

[flagged]

casenmgreen 2y ago
You don't make examples of people. You treat them equally by the law. You do not put people in solitary confinement for nine days - or twenty days - and without giving them any idea of what is happening, or notifying anyone where they are. This is cruel and unusual punishment.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - madeofpalk 2y ago
    It is astonishing that your response to people facing injustice is that more people should face injustice.
    - homebrewer 2y ago
      No, he's just pointing out the double standards, and I agree with this sentiment. It's very difficult to visit the US (or really any Western country) with my passport, and always has been. You have to put in a lot of money and collect many pieces of paper for even a tourist visit (forget about working there or — god forbid — trying to legally immigrate), and there's a large chance you will be denied regardless. Nobody gives a flying fuck about this.
      - chronos00 2y ago
        The outrage here is that she was detained. One thing is to be denied entry even when you did everything right, another is to be detained for an indefinite period of time.
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      Yep. Becuase I'm tired of this holier than thou crap. It's very easy to follow visa laws as a German national to the US. You don't face any of the same amounts of hurdles that non-Western nationals face. And your countries would treat us the same if we didn't have a US passport (I remember those experiences in Frankfurt Airport before and after I got the American passport)
  - elric 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      Because EU nations aren't going to change their attitude, and would continue to treat non-western passport holders in the same way as her. Maybe now Germans know how it feels for a Turkish or Moroccan national who is working on a visit or family visa and looking behind their shoulder.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
madeofpalk 2y ago
As an immigrant myself, I think it is cruel and inhumane to hold someone in detention indefinitely for unspecified accusations. I think it is cruel to wish this upon others like you have done.
zuppy 2y ago
if you think that holding someone in solitary confinement plus another month in jail is a valid response for her case, i think you are a bad person. i’m sorry that german border control treated you badly, but that woman did nothing wrong to you.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
alextingle 2y ago
I'm not sure I understand. What do you feel she did wrong?
- alephnerd 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - casenmgreen 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      And AfD now has 152 seats in the Bundestag, and as a result the CDU/CSU will have to become equally anti-immigrant. This is the only way Germans will learn, just like the only way us Americans will learn about the dangers of populism is getting burnt and abused by DOGE.
    - dang 2y ago
      "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      - casenmgreen 2y ago
        Apologies.
HackerThemAll 2y ago
The thing is, in Europe, precisely in European Union, people can travel and work freely with minimum formalities across all 28 EU countries and in Norway. It's easy for European citizen (and the person in question was from Germany which is an EU member) to forget that some countries are still that deeply not civilized. Notwithstanding that, the person should just be deported immediately, but instead was detained for multiple weeks. Is it how it supposed to be dealing with visitors? Is America great again already?
- alephnerd 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - HackerThemAll 2y ago
    [flagged]
  - fishmaster 2y ago
    [flagged]
  - twh1293819 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      [flagged]
- mytailorisrich 2y ago
  "still that deeply not civilized." All countries, including EU countries put restrictions on foreigners coming for work and require specific visas. And rightly so. Not sure how to interpret your quip...
fishmaster 2y ago
[flagged]
- dang 2y ago
  You can't attack another user like this here. If you do it again, we will ban you, so please don't do it again. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
mrighele 2y ago
> Before I got my US passport, the German immigration staff would always treat me like shit, but with the US passport, I'd make sure to flaunt it so I'm not treated like yet another South Asian or Middle Eastern national. Given the behavior of the current administration, I fear soon you will be back to be treated the old way even with US passport.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  > I fear soon you will be back to be treated the old way And if it comes to that I'll leave for my ancestral country or for a Gulf State at a G42 or ADIA type organization.
marissachan 2y ago
Oh? My understanding so far was that she claims to have wanted to visit a friend in the USA, and is only accused of wanting to work. Can you please pinpoint to me where you got the information?
- alephnerd 2y ago
  > CBP agents at the border accused Brösche of planning to violate the terms of the visa waiver program by intending to work as a tattoo artist during her trip to LA, Lofving said
  - marissachan 2y ago
    Yes. Accused. That article does not mention anything else. I personally believe that just an accusation is NOT enough to justify that treatment. In fact I don't believe that even if she did intend to work the correct thing would have been to send her back. But an accusation?!
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      When transiting an international border in the US, visa status information is available to CBP along with a quick perusal of the person's social media (EU states do the same if not in a VWP program). Her social media has shown she was working as a tattoo artist on tour in LA with dates - direct violation of the VWP because it's an employment role.
- mr_mitm 2y ago
  This is her instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessica.lia.tt/?hl=de https://www.instagram.com/jessica.lia.tt/?hl=de She lists LA like a tour date in her bio. I'm not sure if that already qualifies as intent to work in the eyes of border patrol though. But it might.
sfcl33t 2y ago
This makes no sense. What law do you think she violated? And you're certainly painting Latin immigrants with a wide brush, there are a TON of us who came in illegally.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  On the VWP, you cannot work - it's a visit visa. If my parents broke the terms of their visas when they immigrated or my wife when she came on her F1 we all would face similar experiences. Same in Germany as well.
  - piva00 2y ago
    They could have just denied entry though.
    - alephnerd 2y ago
      It's a visa violation, so the rules require a formal deportation as a deterrent. A country like Germany or France does the same as well. Hopefully European nations will reform their immigration system based on this, but based on the German election results, there's no hope.
      - chronos00 2y ago
        Expedited removal is part of their existing authority to deal with fraud and misrepresentation with visa entry requirements. It only requires a few hours to process and results in a five year ban from the United States as a deterrent. Detaining someone indefinitely under these specific circumstances is not something that happens in France and Germany. And until now wasn’t something that was happening in the United States. https://immigrationforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Fact-Sheet-on-Expedited-Removal.pdf https://immigrationforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Fact...
      - piva00 2y ago
        Formal deportation does not require imprisonment for weeks, I personally know someone deported on arrival from Spain and they were sent back to their home country a few hours later. There's no reason to do it, it costs more for the country deporting someone, it doesn't improve the deterrence since the deported will be banned from entry for a while. > but based on the German election results, there's no hope. I don't understand what you mean by this.
idiotsecant 2y ago
I think in a perfect and just universe, the most fitting end for this post would be for it to be perfectly preserved, with your actual name, in perpetuity, in the worlds most popular and enduring history textbook. Imagine your children's grandchildren reading this sublime example of the casual banal brutality of our time, even among regular everyday people. I sincerely hope for that future for you, and for all of us.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  Absolutely. I would yell this from the rooftops loud and proud if I was running for office in the Bay Area as a D (because I worked with them early in my career and am a party member). Most 1st and 1.5gen Asian and Latiné Americans would agree with this statement I gave.
  - ANDgaf2 2y ago
    [flagged]
- yusaythat 2y ago
  I agree that a month was far too long and she should have been sent back much sooner. But, she 100% intended to violate her visa and I simply can't imagine calling a criminal being imprisoned for 1 month before being sent home, "brutality".
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
kergonath 2y ago
[flagged]
- alephnerd 2y ago
  > This is complete bollocks. She did not try these shenanigans. VWP is NOT a work visa. It's a visit visa.
  - kergonath 2y ago
    Not even that. It is not a visa. It is a bit of virtual paper that says you don’t need one. Where did I imply it was a work visa?
- dang 2y ago
  Please don't respond to a bad comment by breaking the site guidelines yourself. That only makes things worse. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
dang 2y ago
You started a hellish flamewar with this, and perpetuated it badly downthread. That's seriously not ok and we ban accounts that do it, so please don't do it again. It's not what this site is for, it destroys what it is for, and it evokes worse from others. Not cool. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html p.s. Also, you posted this twice. Please don't do that. (The other one was https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43229712 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43229712 and I've marked it as a dupe and merged the replies here now.)
- alephnerd 2y ago
  Fair enough, no argument from me there! I appreciate your moderation effort Dang! I was way out of line and not in a great mental headspace, and deserved to be flagged to oblivion. Thank you for moderating this board!

dharmab 2y ago

The administration has set an arrest quota for ICE, and ICE is far below where the administration wants them: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/01/nx-s1-5313059/immigration-ice-arrests-misleading-claims-kristi-noem-dhs https://www.npr.org/2025/03/01/nx-s1-5313059/immigration-ice... > The most recent DHS data released this week shows that fewer than 600 people per day have been booked into ICE detention facilities across the country during the first three weeks of February — well below the pace of 1,200 to 1,500 arrests a day that administration officials have said they want.

BLKNSLVR 2y ago

I think the key is "private contractor". The more detainees they have, and the longer they have them, the more they get paid.

demuxed 2y ago

You can simply search her name to find out what’s actually going on instead of trusting a rage-bait article with no details. She was detained because this wasn’t her first time doing this. They are accusing her of working the last time she was in the U.S. under the VWP. As a result, she is likely being held for prosecution and will be barred from returning. A quick search shows that in the past, she had posted on social media about being in the U.S. and working. It’s likely that her equipment raised a red flag, and during additional screening, they found those posts. It’s unfortunate for her, but ultimately, it was her own doing. I know plenty of digital nomads who work in the U.S. without proper visas, but the difference is they keep a low profile. Visa laws aren’t unique to the U.S., and most countries take violations seriously. In fact, the U.S. isn’t even among the strictest. There’s plenty to be outraged about in the world without making things up. edit: I'm not going to justify this reddit post with any sources. It's obviously bait and 20 seconds of googling confirms it.

casenmgreen 2y ago
Guilt does not justify how she was treated.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
anon373839 2y ago
This is all a deflection from the inhumane treatment she has received. But I can’t tell: are you deflecting because it’s an uncomfortable topic, or because you genuinely don’t care that human beings are being treated this way?
- demuxed 2y ago
  How was she treated that's inhumane? What specifically do you take issue with? If you'd like to go through the article and provide actual examples I'll help you with being a critical reader. When it says something "amounts" to solitary confinment, that isn't the same as saying she was held in solitary confinment. That's shifty reporting trying to spin the facts without the legal repercussions of directly lying. When you get to the part about her having violent outbursts and punching walls until there is "blood everywhere" you might then ask yourself "could this person be a risk to themselves or a cell mate" or maybe "what are the international consequences if she were to harm herself or someone else while in custody?" The world is never black and white and there are plenty of these points in the article where you should be asking questions and maybe looking to other sources for answers. The article is using her friend/girlfriend as the primary source, even though she is clearly biased and has no actual information, which she has no right to given she isn't a family member, her lawyer, or the German consulate. It's almost like they are purposely ignoring the actual facts and are trying to manufacture an emotional response to get this to go viral and somehow receive a more favorable outcome. Seriously, find an article that isn't tabloid quality. Even better, do a search of reputable German news sources like der Spiegel. If she were actually being hidden away and mistreated they would be reporting on it in Germany. From the few facts that are available, it sounds like she would have been released and sent back to Germany had she just admitted she fucked up and plead guilty. My guess, mostly just based on the fact that she was punching walls in jail, she lacks some degree of emotional intelligence, doesn't like the idea of being barred from the US, and thinks she can fight it and win. Now she has to remain in custody until she is tried, which will likely be fairly soon, or a deal is worked out. These are processes that were agreed on (and as the last couple sentences of the article mentions is actively being handled) between the respective governments. Anyone caught doing the same in Germany would face similar consequences. I think what a lot of commenters here don't realize is that most western countries, including the US and Germany, have artist visas for this specific scenario. These are relatively easy to get and would have allowed her to do what she was doing. Instead she chose to commit a federal offense and is paying the price for that choice. I'm not mentioning this to deflect, I'm directly responding to the article which tries to make it sound like she was "doing everything right" and is being unjustly held. Jail isn't great but it's not actual torture. It's mostly just uncomfortable and extremely boring. It's not anymore cruel or tortuous than it has to be given the circumstances.