Title: WE'LL NEVER SET FOOT IN AMERICA AGAIN - Welcome to America - Part Two Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:Jun 29, 2011 Author:iching64 Post Date:2011-06-29 11:27:37 by HAPPY2BME-4UM Ping List:*Illegal Immigration*Subscribe to *Illegal Immigration* Keywords:None Views:94
Couple's dream road trip in US turns to nightmare after pair are jailed
Barbara Dixon and Richard Cross from Newtownmore were thrown into jail in Texas over a visa blunder.
A Highland couple have told how they were treated as common criminals after a mix up during a dream road trip saw them arrested for being in America illegally.
Barbara Dixon and Richard Cross from Newtonmore were detained in squalid conditions in a high security detention camp in El Paso, in Texas, for five weeks after their 90-day visa ran out.
The couple had spent three months visiting family in the US before travelling to Canada for a short trip and then returning.
But as they re-entered America the customs staff forgot to stamp their visa and when armed Border control guards in Texas spotted the error they were remanded.
The pair were then questioned for five hours and then thrown in jail as "illegal aliens".
The couple, who live in Inverness, were eventually deported back to the UK in April and say they plan to file a complaint about their treatment with the UK Foreign Office.
Despite protesting their innocence, the couple were detained in separate dormitories and held like criminals for five weeks.
They were forced to sleep on bare mattresses and use open toilets with fellow inmates, none of whom spoke any English, saying it was like being in a third world country.
Ms Dixon said: We spent hundred and hundreds of dollars on water and these honey buns which were just full of sugar so I didnt lose weight but my husband Richard he did.
I could just see him fading away.
The couple are no strangers to the US and have taken regular holidays there, but after being deported back to Britain two months ago they say they will never set foot in America again.
They are now planning to complain to the Foreign office.