A few years ago, my dear cousin had a very unpleasant situation happen at an airport during inspection as she was arriving to the US to visit some friends for a few days. She was at the time an Australian resident (now a citizen, but she is originally from Chile).
She got put in secondary inspection, her bag was opened and searched and they found a lot of nail products. She loves to do her nails, and they were her own for personal use. She also had some more that were unopened that she was bringing as a gift. The CBP agent then accused her of coming to the US to stay indefinitely to work as a nail artist. My cousin just loves doing her nails and is very good at it. She explained this to the agent, but he was convinced. They kept searching her bags and found a folder with all her documents and among them, there was a US immigration lawyer's card. So they used this as conclusive evidence that she was intending to violate her visa and contact this lawyer to get some sort of status.
At this point they gave her two options, either sign a paper admitting what they were accusing her of and forfeiting her visa and getting some sort of ban. The other option was further detention and possibly jail and eventual deportation. They did not give her any opportunity to contact a lawyer or anyone. She signed the papers and was sent to Chile.
Several years have passed and she hasn't returned to the US. She has only confided in me about this, and all of our friends are always inviting her and insisting on her visiting, as she used to come often. I tried to ask her if there was anything to be done so she can come back and visit, but she is still very angry and hurt about the way she was treated and evades the topic altogether. I respect that, but I know she must also want to come and spend time with her friends and family.
I was shocked when she told me this story so I can't remember what she told me was the punishment for what she was accused for, a few years ban or permanent? Is there way to fix this? Is it likely she got a permanent ban (for having nail products and a lawyer's card)?
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/rlzbyd/what_was_my_cousin_made_to_sign_at_the_airport/