Woman Claims She Was Chained To a Chair For Hours After Being Denied Entry To The U.S.: 'The Ugly Truth Of America'

A woman denounced being chained to a chair for hours after being denied entry to the U.S. at an airport. The woman, identified as Jane and who requested anonymity to tell her story, came from Switzerland for a trip meant to celebrate having beaten cancer.

Officials said it was because they suspected she planned to work in the U.S., something not allowed by her Visa Waiver Program. he program, available to nationals from 42 countries, allows travel without a visa but requires travelers to forfeit the right to challenge deportation.

"The way I felt, I smelled, I looked — dehumanizing," Jane told Nexstar's WPIX. "They treat us worse than animals." She went on to detail that she was held for 13 hours in a New Jersey Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility and deported without being charged or given access to legal counsel.

Jane added that she was questioned by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, who searched her belongings, devices, and financial records. She was taken to the Elizabeth Detention Center, a privately operated facility

She described the facility as cold, windowless, and overcrowded. Her account included a lack of basic hygiene products, such as sanitary napkins, and limited access to medical care.

There she also met women from various countries who had been held for months. She served as a translator for some of them and described the support among detainees as a contrast to what she characterized as dehumanizing treatment by authorities. She reported recurring nightmares after the ordeal.

The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs reported receiving about three times more inquiries related to entry issues in 2025 than in the same period the year prior.

Several such cases have made headlines over since the beginning of the Trump administration. A high-profile one involved Canadian actress Jasmine Mooney, who was detained over an incomplete visa in March.

In a lengthy Op-ed published in The Guardian, Mooney detailed that her work visa had been revoked in November and she was seeking to file a new application.

The actress said he had been traveling between Canada and the U.S. without inconvenience until being suddenly questioned by a border patrol agent and detained afterward. She was told her visa had not been "properly processed" and that she couldn't work for a company in the country that used hemp, an ingredient used in Holy! Water, the beverage she sells.

Mooney recalled that she was initially detained at the San Ysidro border crossing for three nights in a freezing cement cell with five other women. She spent two days without access to legal counsel or clear information about her situation before being informed she was facing a five-year ban unless she applied for re-entry through the consulate. She said she signed the paperwork in a state of exhaustion and confusion, unaware that it would not expedite her release. She was later moved to Otay Mesa Detention Center and then to another center in Arizona.

Mooney said she then managed to send an email to her employer, who contacted her friend in Canada. They worked with the media, and once the story gained attention, her release was expedited. She was told she could have left earlier if she had signed a withdrawal form and paid for her own flight, something she had repeatedly asked to do but was never informed was an option.

In May, Cliona Ward, a 54-year-old Irish-born woman and longtime U.S. resident, was released after being held for 17 days due to decades-old convictions that had been expunged at the state level but not federally recognized.