A young Norwegian woman who was arrested and jailed in the US because her student visa had expired has been released on a judge’s order. Hanne Bredal Engan from Nordland will also be allowed to remain in the US, since she’s married to an American citizen.
Engan’s troubles began last autumn during what should have been a routine interview with US immigration authorities, part of the process of obtaining permanent residence (a so-called “green card”) in the US after her marriage to American Joshua Daguman. When the authorities noted that her student visa had expired around the time of their wedding, and determined she’d thus been in the US illegally, she was arrested on the spot by armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and held in custody at an illegal immigrant detention facility in San Diego.
She was later released after her husband and friends put up the equivalent of NOK 15,000 in bail, but ordered to wear a foot link that only now could be removed after a judge ordered her release. That also allows the green card process to continue.
Engan described her ordeal with ICE agents as “absolutely terrible” and “really scary” during a phone conversation with state broadcaster NRK. “It seems like ICE doesn’t need to follow the law any longer,” she told NRK. “My heart breaks for all those who haven’t been as lucky as me.”
NewsinEnglish.no staff
