BEIJING: China’s foreign ministry has criticized what it says is the discriminatory treatment of Chinese students trying to enter the United States after reports of prolonged interrogations and coercion, with some seeing their visas revoked upon arrival in the US.
At least seven Chinese students, all women, who flew to the Washington DC area recently to further their studies in the US were deported without explicit reasons, according to a report by China Science Daily, a media outlet administered by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
One of the Chinese students recalled her experience to the newspaper. She was unwilling to provide her name for fear of repercussions.
The doctoral candidate took off from Beijing and landed at Washington Dulles International Airport on Dec 19. Her nightmare began when she was directly stopped by US Customs at the airport for further inspection in a secondary checking room, commonly known as the “little black room” among Chinese students. It took eight hours.
Customs officers told her that her visa was “invalid” despite it being issued by the US embassy in China, and she would be deported. Her only option was to pay $3,700 for the plane ticket, she said.
The student said that customs officer coerced to sign documents saying that she had entered the US illegally and that she agreed with her own deportation. She claimed the customs officer said she would be able to return to the US as long she flew home and reapplied for a visa, without mentioning the five-year ban she was about to face. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
