‘I’m not a criminal’: Military wife detained, deported at Honolulu airport

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Nicolle Saroukos of Sydney, Australia, was looking forward last Sunday to a three-week vacation in Honolulu with her mom.

“That’s where my mother and father had their honeymoon, so it held a very like sentimental place in her heart,” Saroukos, 25, said.

It was Saroukos’ third visit to see her husband, Matt, a U.S. Army lieutenant stationed on Oahu. The newlyweds married last December.

She said she hadn’t had issues before, but this time U.S. border officials at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport flagged her for additional screening.

The official checking their passports “went from completely composed to just yelling at the top of his lungs, telling my mother to go stand at the back of the line and to excuse my language, ‘shut up,’” Saroukos recalled.

“So I automatically started crying because that was my first response,” she said.

Saroukos said they were then taken to a holding room, their bags and phones were searched, and they were asked a slew of questions — everything from her work as a former police officer to whether her tattoos were gang-related to her marriage to an American.

“When I did say that I was married to somebody in the U.S. Army, the officers laughed at me. They thought it was quite comical. I don’t know whether they thought I was telling the truth or not,” she said.

“They kept telling me that I had too many clothes in my suitcase. So because of that, they assumed that I was going to overstay my visa,” she said.

Saroukos was subject to more screening. Her fingerprints and a DNA swab of her mouth were taken.

Meanwhile, her mother was free to go.

Saroukos said her heart sank when officials told her she would be declined entry to the U.S. and deported back to Australia the next day.

“[The officer] said ‘so basically what is going to happen is we’re going to send you to a prison overnight where you will stay,’” she said. “Not detention center, he said prison, and I automatically just, I started crying again.”

“Because when you think prison, you think, big time criminals. I don’t know who I’m being housed with,” she said.

According to Saroukos, border officials told her they would contact her husband on her behalf, but she found out later they didn’t.

Saroukos said officials conducted a body cavity search, walked her through the airport in handcuffs, and drove her to the Federal Detention Center.

“They stated, ‘No, you’re not under arrest. You haven’t done anything wrong, and you’ll be facing no criminal charges.’ So I was very confused as to why this was all happening,” she said.

At the prison, Saroukos was strip searched and detained with women who had been convicted of murder and drug offenses. She shared a cell with a woman from Fiji, who was also denied entry and waiting to be deported.

Because Saroukos had missed the cutoff for dinner, she was not given food. At no point was she allowed to call her husband or mother.

“I found that so absurd because if I’m going to be there overnight, my right, just as a human being should be to contact at least one person,” she said.

After a sleepless night, Saroukos was brought back to the airport early the next morning, where she received a call from the Australian Consulate General in Honolulu. Her mother had contacted them after not knowing what happened to her daughter. Saroukos told them to tell her mother to fly back with her on the same flight.

Later, she was offered a phone call with her husband.

“I think we were both just very emotional. We hadn’t spoken to each other in 24 hours. He didn’t know where I was or whether I was safe,” she said.

“It’s not only myself, it’s my mother and my husband that also had to endure that pain, my husband being a current serving member, to serve his country and to be treated in that way I find very disgusting,” she said.

Saroukos’ husband is now on leave in Sydney with his wife. He told HNN he waited for hours at Honolulu airport, repeatedly asking officials what happened to her, but no one gave him answers. He was finally told she was taken to the detention center but was not allowed to see or talk to her there.

Saroukos said she’s sharing her experience to warn people of the increased risks of traveling to the U.S.

“It’s made it physically impossible for me to even ever enter the United States ever again,” she said.

When asked how the experience will affect her marriage, Saroukos said the couple is still trying to figure it out.

“I felt like my world came crashing down. I felt like my marriage was over when they told me that,” she said. “That’s something that they’ve taken away from me as well.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection told HNN they are working on a statement for this story.

A spokesperson said decisions on U.S. entry are complex and taken very seriously, and many factors are considered.

Immigration attorneys said detainees are entitled to a phone call if they are held for several hours.

The Hawaii American Immigration Lawyers Association has a Deportation Defense Hotline at (808) 204-5951. Loved ones are advised to call the detainee’s consulate in the United States so consular officials can check on the detainee’s whereabouts and condition.

Saroukos’ husband said he called the hotline after seeing a Hawaii News Now story and talked to an attorney.

“Before, if someone was denied admission at the airport and CBP (Customs and Border Protection) was going to put them on the next flight back to their home country, CBP used to release the person with instructions to return to the airport for the flight. These days, it is more common for CBP to have the person wait for that flight back home while detained in FDC,” said immigration attorney Esther Yoo.

“CBP has the last say as to whether someone is admitted or not. If an individual is seeking to enter on a tourist visa, CBP typically asks questions to figure out whether the person intends to immigrate here. An intent to immigrate would violate the conditions of the tourist visa. CBP looks at things like whether the person plans to work or get married to a U.S. citizen while they’re here as indicators of immigrant intent,” Yoo added.

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