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Comment by brightball | Hacker News Reader

Are there any instances of the US sending a tourist to jail in another country?

Not exactly. There have been cases where tourists were denied entry and faced extended detention but they were held in U.S. facilities before being returned to their home countries.

There have been cases of incoming immigrants sent to foreign prisons without charges or trial. In March 2025 the U.S. administration flew 238 Venezuelan migrants from Texas directly to the "Terrorism Confinement Center" in El Salvador. The group included asylum seekers with active court cases, individuals who had entered the U.S. legally, and recent border crossers. The administration labeled them members of the "Tren de Aragua" gang to justify the move.

Ages ago there was a Russian citizen they wanted who was flying to the Caribbean. His flight had a surprise landing in Florida with the FBI waiting on the tarmac.

Belarus the same

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryanair_Flight_4978

Flying over a country does not make you immune to that country’s laws.

You know, this wasn’t always the state of things. This is a choice we’ve made.

Frankly, temporary transit through a nation’s airspace (while onboard a commercial jet that you don’t control) shouldn’t subject you to their legal jurisdiction.

Shall we revoke the concept of diplomatic immunity next? Close the embassies?

We seem to be unlearning all the hard lessons of the past. It’s not going to end well.

Notably, he was kept in the US, not sent to prison in another country?

Over the years a bunch of biathlon competitors have had various flavors of a bad time in NYC despite complying with the federal level stuff they're supposed to and that the state NY is supposed to honor. IDK if any of them have gone to actual jail for very long though.

Weren't some of the German tourists last year sent to an ICE camp in Mexico?

Why would there be an ICE camp in Mexico? Maybe you read "New Mexico", the US state.

To deport legal tourists to?

Outside of embassies, the US wouldn't have a place to set up government facilities in someone else's country. Deportees are handed to the receiving country's authorities at most. ICE "camps" (detention facilities) are to process people prior to deporting. Once in another country, they're already deported.

So if someone is sent to Guantanamo, they're actually sent to Cuba and Cuba chooses to put them in Guantanamo?

Such are anomalies. Do you know of a specific US-owned camp in Mexico?

No, why would I? You didn't need to know the staff rota at Dachau to know the government was doing bad things, way back then.

> No, why would I?

Because your original comment was:

> Weren't some of the German tourists last year sent to an ICE camp in Mexico?

Why would I need to know the name of the camp to remember that some people were sent to one? Should I also remember the name and ages of the tourists?

You think a Mexican would see a foreign government institution outside of an embassy and not raise a stink about it? Especially one that may hold citizens captive by a foreign body in their own land? You can't hide something like that. You wouldn't be able to hide the transport either. You'd be able to find it as easily as Guantanamo pops up when you search "us camp in cuba". No such thing when you search "us camp in mexico".

No, I don't think so. There's a set of people who consume media that deliberately and consistently conflates "immigrant" and "illegal immigrant", and they just can't disambiguate what happens to one from what happens to the other.

But what to do with an "illegal immigrant" who has been living in the country for 30 years (and PAID TAXES!) , had 4 kids and a perfectly normal , productive life?

Do you separate them from their kids, and send the bunch to a prison? That is insane.

Because from what we hear about ICE, that is exactly what is happening... when they don't just kill them outright.

It might be enlightening for some to look at what happens to someone who builds a house on land they don't own, and then lives there for 30 years. It's a pretty well established body of law.

Except your analogy is asinine, and in this case it would be more like paying rent for 30 years in an apartment but not being on the lease so they unceremoniously kick you out.

You can't just make an unsubstantiated claim of "asinine". I'd say the comparison is quite apt. Failure to enforce a condition can amount to tacit agreement to it - the same thing can apply in contracts.

Also a tenant in your situation would most certainly have rights to not be "unceremoniously kicked out" - both a time period before they'd even be legally expected to leave, and also legal protections against being forcibly removed even if they didn't leave at that time.

Last year ICE was deporting legal tourists.

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