*This is reported by News.com.au
A former NSW police officer has described the terrifying ordeal she faced after she was detained, jailed overnight and deported from the United States – despite travelling there legally on a tourist visa to visit her US military husband.
Nikki Saroukos from south-west Sydney says she was “treated like a criminal”, denied her rights and subjected to invasive searches, humiliating treatment and a night in federal prison – simply for trying to spend time with her American partner stationed in Hawaii.
Now back in Australia and still reeling from the trauma, Mrs Saroukos and her mother are demanding answers – and warning others how easily international travel can turn into a nightmare.
Mrs Saroukos has visited Hawaii three times in recent months under the ESTA visa waiver program to see her husband, a US Army lieutenant she married in December 2024 after a whirlwind long-distance romance. The couple met through a dating app and quickly knew they wanted to be together.
A former NSW police officer has described the terrifying ordeal she faced after she was detained, jailed overnight and deported from the United States – despite travelling there legally on a tourist visa to visit her US military husband.
Nikki Saroukos from south-west Sydney says she was “treated like a criminal”, denied her rights and subjected to invasive searches, humiliating treatment and a night in federal prison – simply for trying to spend time with her American partner stationed in Hawaii.
Now back in Australia and still reeling from the trauma, Mrs Saroukos and her mother are demanding answers – and warning others how easily international travel can turn into a nightmare.
Mrs Saroukos has visited Hawaii three times in recent months under the ESTA visa waiver program to see her husband, a US Army lieutenant she married in December 2024 after a whirlwind long-distance romance. The couple met through a dating app and quickly knew they wanted to be together.
Mrs Saroukos and her mother (pictured left) were expecting a three week holiday to Honolulu. Picture: Supplied
He joined the army in 2022 and has been serving as a US Army lieutenant on the Pacific island and US state since August 2023.
“He’s serving their country,” Mrs Saroukos told news.com.au in an emotional interview.
“We sacrificed so much to make this work. To be mocked and detained like that – it’s appalling.”
Mrs Saroukos and her mother arrived to Daniel K Inouye International Airport in Honolulu last Sunday for what was supposed to be a routine three-week holiday when things took a sharp and unexpected turn at the customs desk.
“The officer began to look troubled at his computer to which my mum offered to provide more information,” she explained.
“From there he screamed – ‘Shut up and get to the back of the line, go now’ – at the top of his lungs.
“My fight or flight immediately kicked in. I’d seen horror stories about this stuff. I just bawled on the spot,” Mrs Saroukos recalled.
“We were in such a vulnerable position. We didn’t know their rules well and he was obviously carrying a gun.”
Mrs Saroukos, who lives with with anxiety and PTSD, and her mother were then taken to a holding area for questioning where she offered contact with her husband and to show her marriage certificate – to which they laughed in her face.
She said the pair were told, “Don’t say anything, don’t talk and don’t touch your phones,” by officers before their bags were tossed out and inspected along with their documents.
“I didn’t hide anything,” she said.
Her mother was free to go after the search but Mrs Saroukos was taken to a second location where she was subjected to further interrogation.
There, she was forced to surrender her phone and passwords, and questioned about her work as a former police officer.
“They questioned me about the demographic of my suburb and what crimes I was exposed to as a police officer,” she said.
“They were asking me about ice and meth and whether I knew how much was being imported from New Zealand.”
She said she had “now idea how to answere the questions.
“I was just dumbfounded,” she said.
“They took a 45-minute sworn statement where they grilled me on my stream of income, my marriage, my phone history.
“They were clutching at straws. They even asked why I had deleted Instagram three days prior, I was completely honest.”
After the statement concluded she was told to wait outside where she was then subjected to a DNA swab – which she was given no explanation for.
She was further forced to sign a document declaring she was not a part of a cartel and had no affiliation with gang members.
She also signed a document stating her husband was her next of kin and that he would be contacted and informed of her whereabouts – something she later learnt never happened.
After hours of questioning and a sworn statement, a supervisor informed her that her statement was deemed inadmissible and that she would not be entering the United States.
“I’ve never been so terrified in my life. I froze. They said ‘We’ll be sending you to jail.’ I was just shaking, sweating – I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Mrs Saroukos said she was handcuffed, subjected to an in-depth cavity search and marched through the airport in full view of the public before being placed into a car and driven 10 minutes to a federal detention facility.
“The officers told me I wasn’t under arrest but I was cuffed and searched. My jewellery was taken and not secured. I felt stripped of all my dignity,” she said.
“I told the officer that from my understanding when you place someone in cuffs it’s an indication of arrest and you need to read them their rights.”
To which an officer replied, “It’s for our safety.”
When she asked a female officer whether she’d be safe inside the prison they told her, “I can’t answer that, I’ve never been there. I can assume you’d be safe to a degree.”
Upon arriving at the prison around 3.30pm, she was fingerprinted again, ordered to strip naked, squat and cough, and handed prison issued briefs and green outerwear.
“When they finished with the search there was a male officer standing outside who looked confused. He asked me why I was here to which I told him what had happened,” she said.
“He told me, ‘Wow. You should not be here right now, you have Trump to thank for that though.’”
When she asked if she would be fed, officers told her she had missed the cut off for dinner time and would not be provided any food today.
She was further forced to sign a waiver where she agreed she would not be making or receiving any phone calls – something her lawyer later informed her was against basic human rights.
Officers also told her that if she needed to take a shower she would not be provided with a towel and was to use a wet paper towel to clean herself.
“The entire time I was just thinking, ‘Shut up and do what they say and you’ll get out of here,’” she said.
Mrs Saroukos says she was taken to a shared cell where her roommate was a Fijian woman who was being held over similar circumstances.
“There were prisoners everywhere. I learned that I was being housed with convicted murderers,” she said.
“(Other inmates) told me I looked like a fish out of water and even gave me soap and a towel.
“As a former police officer it was such an irony to be on the other side of things. Those inmates treated me better than anyone else.”
Mrs Saroukos’ husband and mother had been waiting outside the airport for five hours with no information on her whereabouts.
“A Hawaiin Airlines ground manager told them that their ‘best guess is that she is there’ (the detention centre). That was all they had to go off,” she said.
Mrs Saroukos recalls that at 6am after only receiving an hour of sleep, she was woken by prison guards bashing on the metal cell doors.
“I just kept thinking that someone has to come save me and that this surely wasn’t really happening,” she said.
She was then told by officers that she would be leaving in ten minutes and was to clean her cell and discard any rubbish.
She was changed back into her own clothing before being transported back to the airport, again in handcuffs.
There, she was marched through crowds of people by officers before being taken to another holding room where she was finally given a small bottle of water, a muesli bar and a packet of chips.
“It was just so humiliating and embarrassing,” she said.
She was then informed she had a call from the Australian Embassy who had been closed over the weekend during the ordeal.
“They told me they couldn’t do anything and that no one had the power to help,” she said.
She asked the embassy to call her mother and let her know that she was being put on a 12.15pm flight back to Sydney.
“I couldn’t fly by myself, I was terrified.”
She was then finally allowed a three-minute phone call with her husband who was “inconsolable”.
“He was crying so much. When I asked if he had known where I was he told me ‘nobody told us anything’,” she said.
Mrs Saroukos was then escorted to the gate by two officers – one in front and one behind – who then handed her phone and passport to flight attendants.
Once in the air, she requested her phone to which a flight attendant said “You will get it given back when touch down and it will be handed over to Australian authorities.”
Upon landing in Australia, Mrs Saroukos was forced to stay on the plane where she expressed her concerns to an empathetic air hostess.
“She told me didn’t agree with what was happening.”
Once being free to de-board the plane, an Australia Customers Officer was waiting for her where he handed her an envelope with her belongings.
“He told me I was free to leave which I couldn’t believe,” she said.
Mrs Saroukos’ husband is planning to apply for an honourable discharge from the US Army as a result so that he can live and work in Australia.
“We don’t know yet what he’ll do here. We’re just too shaken up to even think about it,” she said.
“I never want to return to the United States.”
Mrs Saroukos and her family have now hired an immigration lawyer in the US to probe what can be done about her ordeal.
US Customs and Border Protection did not comment when contacted by news.com.au.
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