East: Students end up in Trump's deportation prison - "Like a fever dream"

Thuringia 24 East: Students end up in Trump's deportation prison - "Like a fever dream" Lara Hoffmann • 12 hours • 3 minutes reading time What began as a trip around the world ended for two students from the East in Trump's deportation prison in the USA. Charlotte Pohl (19) and Maria Lepère (18) actually wanted to explore a little paradise in Hawaii – instead, they were handcuffed, as the "Leipziger Volksstimme" reports. Read here exactly how things got this far for the students from the East. East: Students end up in Trump's deportation prison Charlotte Pohl (19) and Maria Lepère (18) wanted to experience the adventure of a lifetime – but instead of surfing in Hawaii and soaking up the sun in California, the two high school graduates from Rostock ended up handcuffed in a US deportation prison! After stops in Thailand and New Zealand, the trip was supposed to continue in Hawaii in March – but their trip ended abruptly there, reports the "Leipziger Volksstimme." The two students from the East were arrested at the airport in Hawaii despite having a valid ESTA. "We wanted to travel spontaneously. Just like we did in Thailand and New Zealand," Charlotte told the "Leipziger Volksstimme." But that was precisely what proved to be their downfall. They hadn't booked all their accommodations yet. They were told they would be taken to a "center." Instead, they ended up in one of Trump's deportation centers until their next flight to Tokyo awaited them the next day. "We had to stand naked in front of the police officers." "We were searched with metal detectors, our entire bodies were scanned, we had to stand naked in front of the police officers, and they were looked through," Charlotte told the "Leipziger Volksstimme." "Then we were given green prison clothes and put in a prison cell with serious criminals." Among their cellmates was a murderer, a fellow inmate told Charlotte and Maria. They had to spend the night in an ice-cold cell with a moldy mattress and a hole for a toilet. After a sleepless, horror-filled night in deportation detention, the two schoolgirls from the East were taken back to the airport early in the morning – again in handcuffs. An officer accompanied Charlotte and Maria all the way onto the plane, the "Leipziger Volksstimme" reports. The officer handed the flight crew two envelopes containing the two girls' travel documents, which they would not receive back until they arrived on Japanese soil. Part of them: the interrogation transcripts that Charlotte and Maria had signed. "They contained sentences we didn't actually say," Charlotte told the newspaper. "They twisted it around to make it seem as if we admitted that we wanted to work illegally in the USA." In the end, the schoolgirls from the East returned to Rostock via Japan, Qatar, and Frankfurt – with traumatic memories in their luggage. "It was all like a fever dream," Maria told the "Leipziger Volksstimme" after her return. Now they want to send what happened to them to the Federal Foreign Office. But their urge to travel hasn't abated: Costa Rica is still on their agenda.