Watch as Olivia speaks about their ordeal in the video below.
Video credit: Daily Mail
A British woman has revealed that she has been barred from entering the US for the next 10 years after immigration officials checked her phone and found a 2-year-old text message which referred to cocaine.
Isabella Brazier-Jones was stopped from entering the United States at Los Angeles, California, on March 12,2019.
The 28-year-old, from West London, had plans to tour the US with her 26-year-old friend Olivia Cura – but the pair were denied entry after immigration officials became suspicious of them.
Isabella says she and Olivia were going to stay in New York and Los Angeles for two months and had already spent money on flights, car rental, and accommodation.
When officials learned about the length of time the two friends, who met each other at drama school RADA, were planning to spend in the US, they showed concern over their purpose of visit.
Isabella says she was taken to a back room where immigration workers confiscated her belongings and checked her mobile phone.
It was when they discover a 2017 text message in which Isabella had mentioned cocaine. The woman says a worker ‘coaxed’ her and she admitted taking cocaine at the time.
“We had the idea about six months before we left and we went to town on planning the trip in the new year,” Isabella said of their trip.
“It was on our bucket list and it became a light at the end of the tunnel after break ups and mental health issues.
“We both quit our jobs – I was working as a private chef and Olivia had been working as a youth worker. I did up my flat and rented it out to make some money for the trip.
“We uprooted our lives basically.”
Isabella says the duo had already obtained permits from ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation) which had granted them permission to stay in the United States without a visa for up to 90 days.
But when they arrived in Los Angeles, they didn’t expect what was waiting for them.
“I was asked the generic questions such as where I was staying and they didn’t like the answers I was giving. I felt very sweaty in the situation,” Isabella said.
“I’m a really small, blonde girl who looks very young.
“You couldn’t see a more cute little girl and I was finding the whole thing quite comical at first because I’ve never been put in a corner that way before.”
She was asked if she had a boyfriend or if she was planning to meet someone in the United States.
After more than an hour, Isabella was hauled into a deportation center while Olivia was granted permission to enter the US.
“As soon as you enter that room, you are not allowed anything – no food, no phone calls,” Isabella said. “I was held in a group cell with four other women.
“If you have any queries you are told to shut up and sit down.
“I was with a Lithuanian woman, two Mexican ladies and a Turkish lady. The room was divided in the middle and it was women on one side and men on the other.
“There was strip lighting and two camp beds on our side and the TV played constant R&B music videos.
“It was torture. I had to wait for about five hours before I even got my first round of interrogation. It was repeated over and over again.”
Isabella says she was interrogated and body searched several times. During her final interrogation, she was told by the officials that she had messages referring to cocaine on her phone.
“You never see the messages or the emails that they say they are referring to,” she said. “They started referencing messages on my phone that they had found about drugs.
“I was stumped then, and I am stumped now about what message they were talking about. I have friends who go out partying and friends who are in recovery who have messaged me about drug use.
“I have messages that mention someone needing coke and I have messages saying ‘did you take coke last night?’
“I just don’t know what message they found or were referring to and they never told me.
“They coaxed me into admitting that I had tried a line of cocaine in 2017. Because I admitted to taking cocaine, they charged me with possession of drugs and deported me.
“They told me I have now have a 10-year ban from entering the US. I was escorted back onto a plane by two armed police officers.”
She added: “I think that the system has gotten incredibly carried away. It is so obviously a power trip. You are not talking to human beings.
“I am concerned that natural human empathy has been lost as officials follow Trump’s directions. I really want to open people’s eyes.
“This treatment is applied to Mexicans and Muslims but it’s also becoming a mass situation. I think they took against me because I was a posh, white blonde girl.
“I lost (money) that I spent on flights, insurance, accommodation, renting a car, doing up my flat to rent it out.”
Meanwhile, Olivia had decided not to stay in the United States without her friend. She waited for Isabella in a hotel and the duo returned home together.
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