In November, 13 Polish citizens who landed at the Newark International Airport were deported back to Poland. Most were elderly women, who allegedly were handled roughly by immigration officers.
“My grandmother, who is 81 years old, was coming to spend the holidays with us. At Newark Airport she was handcuffed and taken to the deportation center in New Jersey, where she spent the night with other elderly women; one was so distressed that she had to receive medical assistance. The next day my grandmother was deported back to Poland from the JFK airport,” one of our readers told Nowy Dziennik.
Another person, who also was sent to the deportation center in Elizabeth, NJ, wrote in a letter that Nowy Dziennik published last week: “I was cross-examined a couple of times at the airport in Newark. During the entire time, I was not allowed to take my medication. I suffer from hypertension and have a heart condition and must take my pills three times a day. I was told to change into the jail clothing and was not even allowed to stay in my own underwear. Handcuffed, they seated me on a concrete bench,” the woman says, and adds that she was told to sign various documents the content of which she did not understand. Once back in Poland, she was taken straight to hospital. “I couldn’t stop vomiting for three hours. I was so dehydrated and my blood pressure was so high that I was at risk of having a stroke,” she wrote.
Wojciech Lukasiewicz, the consul from the legal department at the Polish Consulate in New York informed Nowy Dziennik that “in November 2008, there were seven flights from Poland to Newark. Several passengers from six of those planes were not allowed to enter the United States. Out of 13 people who were deported 11 were women.” According to the consul, there have been, from time to time, individual cases of deportation straight from Newark or JFK airports; however, only recently have so many of them happened in such a short period of time. Consul Lukasiewicz also points out that the consulate was indeed notified of all the cases by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, but not until after the individuals were deported.
“According to the consular convention between Poland and the United States, American officers have an obligation to notify us about arrests of Polish citizens in America. Airport immigration officers argue, however, that these individuals theoretically have not yet entered the United States; therefore, they are not obliged to report the deportations. It is as if they were arrested outside the country’s borders.”
Each time the reason for deportation was the same: staying in the country illegally, that is, past the date indicated on the entry visa.
“My grandmother Regina, who is now 77 years old, overstayed her visa by six months 20 years ago. She didn’t hide the fact when applying for another tourist visa. Since that time she has visited us twice. Until now there was no problem,” Malogorzata Tomaszewska tells us. “This time it turned out otherwise. My grandmother was treated like a criminal and instead of spending the holidays with us she went through a nightmare. Why on earth did the consulate give her a visa if they were not going to allow her to enter to the United States?”
Janusz Buszynski, from the American Embassy in Warsaw, says that “the visa issued by a U.S. Embassy or Consulate entitles the holder to travel to the United States and apply for admission; however, it does not guarantee entry. An immigration inspector at the port of entry determines the visa holder's eligibility for admission into the United States. The consul does not have access to a comprehensive data base with ample information on the applicant like immigration officers at the border.” As consequence, Buszynski admits, “each person who at some point in the past overstayed his or her visas has to be aware that they may not be allowed entry to the United States now.”
The spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Joanne Ferreira, told Nowy Dziennik that she is not allowed to comment on individual cases. “I can only say that an immigration officer at the border approaches each case individually, but bases his judgment on a list of 60 reasons for refusal of entry to the United States,” including potential danger for the country, a record of criminal offences or violation of the immigration law.
