22h ago

German teens denied entry to US for traveling ‘under false pretenses’ and ‘intended to work’: Border Patrol

German teens traveled to US 'under false pretenses' and 'intended to work': Border Patrol

The teens claimed CBP targeted them because they hadn’t booked hotels for their entire stay in Hawaii.

“They found it suspicious that we hadn’t fully booked our accommodations for the entire five weeks in Hawaii,” Pohl said. “We wanted to travel spontaneously. Just like we had done in Thailand and New Zealand.”

153 comments

The most shocking thing about this is the five weeks. Like as Americans we have no clue how the rest of the world lives. The entire country of France stops working for 6 weeks in the summer. And we fight to get 2 weeks if we're lucky.
- I'm a middle aged American and have never had a paid vacation.
  
  I feel solidarity for you. My dad was a self employed mechanic, and the only vacation he ever took was when he broke his leg.
- Pretty easy to take off 5 weeks when you are unemployed.
  The entire country of France stops working for 6 weeks in the summer.
  The French get 25 days off per year, which is on the higher side in Europe, but not quite 6 weeks.
  
  I'm not trying to be mean, but the difference between 10 days and 25 days is the difference between night and day.
  
  You successfully failed to be mean.
  
  Does the 25 days include national holidays like Xmas, etc? Perhaps it's more than 25 once the national holidays are factored in?
  
  Does the 25 days include national holidays like Xmas, etc?
  Nope, those are all added on top.
  
  Don't understand why you're being downvoted. Because you're exactly right. They just finished school and very likely don't have a job. Very likely they are going to want to study later on and are spendig their time between the final school exams in spring and the start of the winter semester at university travelling, as man young Germans do.
  Vacation time in Europe is a lot better than the US, but this has nothing to do with it. Depending on your contract you could get 30 days off in Germany, and since you don't have to count the weekends or state holidays, if you work a regular Mo-Fr work week, you can arrange for a 6 week trip, but they had already spent 5 weeks in Thailand and NZ, were planning 5 weeks in Hawaii and then keep going other places. The way they are travelling is out of reach for most employees in Germany and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for many.
  
  Heavily depends on whether you're backpacking and staying at hostels or expecting all the usual vacation bells and whistles. But yes unless you become a digital nomad it's not sustainable into adulthood, this is probably a gap year kind of thing. Saving up a couple of thousand working while in secondary education while still living with parents can get you quite a ways.
  Also, there's still tradespeople going on journey, with actual work visas. Tough luck doing such a thing abroad without a guild with the right contacts into state structures, staying within the EU is significantly easier.
  
  Why so many downvotes for this guy? I don’t understand. As a student I could easily do some courses next year and take time to travel. Even better when you’ve just finished studying and go travel before starting a job. It’s not that weird, right?
  
  I think maybe the phrasing? Calling them unemployed might have bad implications, even though it is accurate for recent graduates. I'm not sure.
  Really I just find it interesting. Lemmy works in mysterious ways sometimes :D

153 comments