Two German backpackers were deported from Hawaii, sparking global headlines. Beat of Hawaii broke the story first in the U.S.—and the hundreds of Hawaii visitor comments that followed revealed the true fallout: shock, canceled trips, and a sharply divided travel audience.
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I agree w/ Niles & some others. I respect the CBP authorities; however, come on boys & girls, deny entry….ok, but keep them safely detained & humanly comfortable @ the airport. Wow! No need for strip searching w/ its accompanying humiliation plus making people change into chain gang uniforms. That’s crazy! Were you even thinking about how this fits into living Aloha Spirit while you were doing these things? Hū!
I again make the comment that that tourists visiting Hawaii hotels and rental condos are charged an often hidden GET, TAT and 3% stay taxes about to increase to 19% on arrival, which is often more than 25% of their nightly room charge. Our 2-3 week condo says on Kauai have all but dried up; instead we now get a typical 3-4 night stay on usually booked AirB&B multi state visits, with $125 per stay cleaning charge when these very short term rentals absorbed by the renter, increasing our overhead and annual income.
Out of state condo rental owners property taxes have jumped to 100% of often drive by new property values. Ours have jumped from $12,000 to $16,000 in annual payments; over a 2 year period, ours jumped into the past Our annual HOA fees have jumped from $1950 to $2850, largely because of skyrocketing insurance rates. On those who have to pay mortgages (currently 7% rates), the monthly overhead has now risen to a level discouraging recent purchasing reducing selling prices.
I feel compelled to acknowledge my respect I have for the Hawaiian People. I find the Native Hawaiians are gracious kind friendly people. I can only imagine how it must be to be bombarded with tourists on a constant basis. In some cases too much money and not enough brains. Add alcohol to the mix and sometimes tourists outstay their welcome. I met a young woman on Waikiki Beach in 87 and we have now been married for 34 years. We travel to Hawaii from Vancouver once a year without fail and always enjoy the hospitality and the people of the Hawaiian islands. Hopefully we will be able to enjoy our annual trips and to continue to experience the Aloha spirit. Love you Hawaii.
I’m absolutely amazed at this.Hawaii has a universal reputation for its friendliness and hospitality.If the border and customs staff were Hawaiians, why did they behave in a way that’s so uncharacteristic of their fellow islanders,and even lie about what the German girls said?
Don’t they realise that this behaviour will severely damage the Hawaiian tourist industry?
These agents may not have lived in Hawaii long and/or are impervious to its culture.
Americans are going to have to address the cruelty of these people who really don’t care of others live or die.
Hawaii is one of the most special places on the planet. These agents need to be made to do some restorative justice.
Traveling to Hawaii has been in our family’s heritage for three generations. We are stunned that the girls from Germany were treated in such an offensive manner by U.S Customs.
This, however, is not representative of the people of Hawaii. We have always felt the warmth of the Island culture and care given to us when we both lived there or visited. Aloha still reigns.
Rob and Jeff,
Your article on this event was just cited in this morning’s “The Free Press TFIG,” which in case you do not know is a Substack with thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of followers.
(Paywalled)
thefp.com/p/tgif-vladimir-stop?utm_campaign=email-post&r=f163f&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Well, I thought links are not allowed on this site and when I clicked, I didn’t see anything related to BOH.
Rules are rules in all countries. Check everything out thoroughly before you embark. I’m traveling to the UK this summer and I had to fill out an ETA application and had to be approved before I can enter the country. In 2022 I had to show proof of having a COVID booster with a certain time of entering Peru, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to enter. I didn’t want another booster so soon, but rules are rules. If you don’t want to do that, then don’t go. Safety first for all.
Rules are rules – correct. But throwing two young tourists into prison together with serious criminals is a whole different matter. However, this issue will resolve itself. All over the world, people are currently witnessing this antisocial American behavior, and the simple result will be that, out of the 70 million tourists per year, only a fraction will keep coming.
There is no requirement to have a fully booked itinerary and l believe them when they say CBP lied about them working for pocket money to justify the shameful way they acted. CBP has been caught lying and falsifying records after arresting even US citizens off the streets. Governor Green, if he had any political courage, which he doesn’t, would denounce this awful behavior.
I agree with some of the comments. I live in Australia and our family was considering a trip to Hawaii this year but with the increasing stories of overly aggressive border agents we won’t risk it. We will go to Fiji instead.
Our loss, but I don’t blame you. Have friends who went it Fiji and absolutely loved it.
I think this story has traction because, in part, it fits the anti tourist narrative that Hawaii has created for itself through *show respect” advertising and do not visit Maui celebrity statements when the Lahaina fire was a global headline.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection shed more light on the situation in a statement Wednesday:
“These travelers were denied entry after attempting to enter the U.S. under false pretenses. One used a Visitor visa, the other the Visa Waiver Program. Both claimed they were touring California but later admitted they intended to work—something strictly prohibited under U.S. immigration laws for these visas.”
In the story they claim the immigration officials changed their statement. They didn’t say they intended to work, it seems this is becoming common practice to write down whatever they want to justify their actions.
I served in the US Army in Germany in 1975 and 1976. The German people were especially gracious and consistently helpful in sharing their castles and country with me…the food was different…yet delicious! I once walked my skiis off my Wildflecken base and stuck my thumb out to hitchhike. The second car picked me up, put my skiis in their rack, and drove out of their way to drop me off for a day of skiing at a smaller ski area. How can I repay this? It alarms me that our ally German youth were deported like this. My country did the unthinkable here – what thugs are running our borders?!
Unfortunatley, it’s getting worse. My very 1st boy-friend from Germany (I grew up there) found me through the internet after 25 years without contact and we have now been in a long distance relationship for some years. His 1st flight was to the US to visit me and he has been coming frequently and although he never stays as long as his ESTA visa would allow it (he is also in the traveller trust program), he had a couple of unpleasant TSA agents with offensive questions that I cannot put here, but nothing like these young people have experienced. This is the 1st time he has not booked his next flight (I plan to go to Europe instead) and all my other European friends or relatives have already told me they are no longer planning to come to the US.
Eva B, yes Hawaii is not big on annexations. I never realized a Brit and a German were involved with the Dole overthrow and subsequent annexation.
Colin, I am not sure about Oahu as I am not a biker but a buddy of mine rented a Harley from the dealer on Kauai and had a fantastic time. Traffic in the holidays is horrible though and many visitors forget to pack their driving brains when they come so you can come across some very strange behavior (stopping on blind curves to take a picture for example)…