Immigration officers put Finnish woman through ordeal at JFK Airport
 Foreign - Monday 17.3.2003

A 33-year-old Finnish woman underwent a harrowing ordeal at JFK International Airport in New York early last week, as she was on her way to the state of Washington spend a month with her sister's family.

    Now she is back in Finland, and is considering taking up the issue with the US Embassy in Helsinki.

While going through arrival formalities the officials first asked her the usual questions. Then she was taken to a nearby office.

    In the office she was told that in 1995 she had stayed in the United States 13 days beyond the 90-day limit for visits without a visa.

    This came as a surprise to the woman, who has visited the United States more than ten times, and is quite sure that she did not stay too long on that occasion. The dates were stamped in her old passport, which was probably shredded by the officials who recently issued her a new one. Also, not many people retain old plane ticket stubs that long.

    It soon became apparent that the issue was not a simple one, and the woman had already missed her connecting flight.

"They would interrogate me and then they would just make me sit. The worst of it was that I was not allowed to call my sister, who was waiting for me at the airport in Washington", the woman says.

    The evening came and the office was closed. The woman was taken to another place at JFK which was open 24 hours a day. For the transport, she and the others with similar problems were put in handcuffs and leg irons.

    The shackles were not removed when they reached their destination. Next to the Finnish woman was a London banker wearing a pinstripe suit. He had stayed one day beyond the limit in 1996.

    At two in the morning the woman asked the officials what was going to happen. They said that in the morning she would be taken to a place where they could rest and eat.

    At nine in the morning on Tuesday the group were shackled to each other and taken to the police lockup in Queens.

    "They really made me feel like a criminal. The officials tried to explain that after September 11 - and especially during a terror alert - things are tighter. They spoke about zero tolerance."

    All of the gifts that she brought her sister's family - sweets, rye bread, and Koff beer, were thrown in the trash, or poured down a drain.

In the jail she was given a shower, photographed and fingerprinted. More interrogations followed. She was given a blue prison uniform, and Government-issue underwear, and was not allowed to take her hair clasp with her into the cell.

    "If I wanted something I had to knock on a small window of the cell."

    She began to feel a bit panicky. The next morning at six she woke with a headache. At nine a doctor gave her Tylenol®. She was also given something to read.

At two in the afternoon the shackles were put back on and the woman was taken back to JFK and the Finnair departure gate. She asked the officials to take off the leg irons at least; it made her feel uncomfortable that the other Finnish passengers saw the situation.

    Her wish was granted, but the handcuffs stayed on for another two hours until after she had been taken into the plane.

    A Finnair representative urged her to immediately contact the US Embassy in Helsinki, and offered to be a witness if necessary.

    The flight attendants did not treat the woman like a criminal. "It felt wonderful to be back in Finland", she said.

Helsingin Sanomat