British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue

I have long suspected the reason for aggressive treatment of minor offenders is that they are an easy target and a quick way to meet your prosecution quota.

I have many times heard about foreign students who come to the USA under completely proper arrangements but run afoul of immigration because of some innocent remark. My advice to visitors is to never mention to officials any circumstance in which you might come into contact with business or financial operations.

Speaking of quotas: I wouldn’t surprised if part of the reason for her lengthy detention was “we have to meet jail occupancy targets” (or “we have to boost our jail occupancy metrics”.)

My solution is just to avoid the US like the plague. This is after the countless of stories of people being detained at the border, having their electronics gone through and having to report all of your social media accounts for some fucking reason.

I doubt there needs to be some higher agenda. At the border you're at the whims of power tripping border guards and TSA. A whole lot can happen if you get the wrong person who's in a bad mood or simply confused. And once flagged you get pushed into a byzantine process and the next person you speak to won't care how you got into it or if the first guy was unfair, the process is the process.