Border Customs and Border Protection agents are using more aggressive tactics to question visa holders and tourists coming into the U.S. as part of the Trump administration crackdown on illegal immigration, The Wall Street Journal reported.
In one case March 7, a German national who is a legal permanent U.S. resident was detained and "violently interrogated" by U.S. border officials at Boston Logan International Airport, his mother told news outlets.
The man, Fabian Schmidt, required medical attention during the interrogation and was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital.
Two other German tourists trying to enter the U.S. at the San Ysidro border were denied entry and sent to a crowded detention center, according to their own accounts and their friends. Both were chained to a bench before being released. One says he was denied a translator.
"I'm shocked at how fast this all changed," Lucas Sielaff, one of the tourists, told the Journal. "And that they put innocent people in prison for nothing."
The family of a tourist from Britain, Becky Burke says she has been held in Washington State for more than two weeks.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, told the Journal that the Trump administration "is enforcing immigration laws — something the previous administration failed to do.
"Those who violate these laws will be processed, detained, and removed as required."