Deaf Japanese tourist claims mistreatment at Honolulu airport

Waiting to hear the CBP's side of the story. I hope she didn't arrive and return on United. A person can only suffer so much abuse.

The being cuffed with hands behind her back was adding insult to injury.

Instead, staff members tried to ask her questions by using a Japanese translator on the phone, 

A translator on the 'phone? For a deaf person? How stupid can you get?

The next day, she was taken to the airport for a flight back to Japan and her cell phone was returned.

Does it mean she was denied entry and deported? why?

Holy crap, wtf is going on with the US. They risk a big hit to Hawaii's tourism industry with bs like this

Customs and Border Protection officials took her into an office to question her about her past as an international student in the United States,

I think there is a clue here, obviously more to this than meets the eye as many thousands of Japanese go to Hawaii every year.

Gatta-san, I understand your comment. But, come on! A Japanese national who was an international student in the US is NOT a threat to Honolulu. Or do you think every Japanese national who goes to school in the US deserves the same treatment. Surely not.

I'm functionally deaf, and often do not wear my hearing aids when on aircraft, nor in airports (all of which are so loud with overhead noise my hearing aids are virtually useless). And I can't use a phone, even with them installed in my ears. Frankly, if this happened to me, I'd be so furious I'd be suing someone's a*s and launching a human rights complaint to the highest echelons. I hope she presses it to the max.

to question her about her past as an international student in the United States

It's a sad irony that those with the closest ties to a country (such as former international students/working holiday visa holders) are often singled out by immigration authorities as being a higher risk of overstaying. Staying with a friend or listing any address other than a hotel on your arrival card also seem to raise a red flag.

customs officials took away her cell phone, so she wasn't able to alert her boyfriend, who waited 12 hours for her at a cafe near the airport

I suspect most people think mentioning that you have a boyfriend/girIfriend waiting for you will help them get released, but in reality it only makes the immigration authorities even more convinced that you won't leave within the 90 days of your tourist visa. It's truly perverse. I've heard many first and second hand accounts of this sort of thing happening in various countries.

I know a Japanese woman who used to rave about how great Canada was during her student/working holiday stay and how it was the best country in the world. That was until she was detained and interrogated by an overzealous immigration agent who thought she was coming to work. She went from loving Canada to basically despising it. She has never gone back there.

Sounds like they had a REASON (of COURSE) to DENY her Entry.

I myself (a USA Citizen) was ALSO DETAINED, but not confined to a cell, upon entry from Tokyo, due to repeated trips to the Middle East & a Passport glitch..however, I was never cuffed, I was held in a room, with several other people, also there to be questioned....things happen for a REASON.

Officers "receive extensive training in disability awareness and treat all travelers with disabilities with dignity, respect and professionalism," the statement said.

Just how many lies can you count in this simple phrase?

I think the USA basically gives you no rights at all unless you are their citizen. So although she was obviously treated poorly, I'm not sure she was treated illegally. Truth be told, this is probably less about discrimination & more than we just don't hear about all the other cases of poor treatment. Heck, even before 9/11 a friend of mine I was travelling with to Hawaii was subject to a racist insult from the immigration officer right in front of everyone.

I'm certainly not expecting anything to change after this incident either.

This type of meathead bullying has been going on since at least the early 90's. I was subjected to it several times. Both times when they realized that they had horrifically screwed up, they even got upset by the fact the were wrong and ordered me to return home. They simply had to win at any cost so to deny entry meant they still won.

I wrote to the US government offices in control of those departments and each reply came as no surprise when NOT ONE QUESTION WAS ADDRESSED but sheer canned drivel ensued about procedures.

I know of several people with clean records, not even traffic tickets, getting thrown up against a counter during US inspections and later being forced to returned because the US CBP were wrong but had to be right. That's the kind of abuse that wins you NO SUPPORT. Thuggery is alive and well at US Customs and Border Protection.

Officers "receive extensive training in disability awareness and treat

all travelers with disabilities with dignity, respect and

professionalism," the statement said.

Pretty clear that the training didn't take. Retraining for the individuals involved isn't necessary. They should be fired. Being trained isn't the goal. Following the training is the goal. Right? If the Homeland Security people won't follow the training, they need to be fired.

It's possible she had been to the US on a visa type that requires her to stay out of the US for 2 years upon completion of her studies. It'd still be possible for her to visit, but she could not get a visa on arrival but only through the embassy in Tokyo. If that's the case, it's almost impossible for her to not have understood the limitations of her visa.

As a tourist she has right to visit Hawaii. Perhaps she's been targeted by the Homeland Securities Office because the "Japanese"Judge in Hawaii has been defiant with Trump's immigration policy.

Oh poor lady, it's sad to say but it's a cold, dark T-Rump U.S. now. : (

Oh poor lady, it's sad to say but it's a cold, dark T-Rump U.S. now. : (

Ahh, if it was only so simple that a 4 year or less individual would be the cause. This type of over reaction, treating everyone as an enemy first has been going on in the US for many years. Way back in the day they may have held her but would treat her with common decency also. (my experience of being questioned, jailed erroneously and often having issues due to a very common name leads me to this statement)

"...accusations of mistreating travelers with a disability are taken seriously."

Shouldn't accusations of mistreating ALL travelers be taken seriously? Ever heard of human rights?

If she was detained then deported then clearly she overstayed under her previous visa. But the manner in which she was treated is ridiculous. Why did she need to be handcuffed? Was she on a terrorist list? US Immigration has language services for just about any language on the planet, but they couldn't provide sign language? This is mistreatment of a disabled person. Hope the ACLU nail them. A civil lawsuit for damages would also be in order.

Gatta-san, I understand your comment. But, come on! A Japanese national who was an international student in the US is NOT a threat to Honolulu. Or do you think every Japanese national who goes to school in the US deserves the same treatment. Surely not.

@TrevorPeace

I assume you're talking to me here; I made no such inference. There must be a reason why she, out of thousands of other Japanese visitors, was singled out for this awful treatment. Why ever do you think that I think that every Japanese deserves the same?

I've never been to the US and never really had the inclination due to the current environment and systems in place to process visitors.

However, obviously the young lady was not able to satisfy the US officers that she was in compliance with US rules for entry and was thus deported.

Hard luck.......

Insufficient information. Why would she have been singled out and detained ?

The US has become quite alien as of late. I wish I could move to Japan honestly.