Australian denied entry to US, strip searched and thrown in prison hits back at Homeland Security's reasoning
EXCLUSIVE
An Australian woman who was strip searched and thrown in federal prison when denied entry to the United States to visit her American husband has hit back at Homeland Security after it aired details of her case on social media to defend its actions.
Nikki Saroukos, a former NSW Police officer from southwest Sydney, told news.com.au last week she was subjected to invasive searches and humiliating treatment for trying to spend time with her US military husband stationed in Hawaii.
Ms Saroukos said she had successfully visited the state three times in recent months using an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) under the Visa Waiver Program, but this time turned into a nightmare.
The US Department of Homeland Security later issued what it described as a 'fact check' on X after she went public with the ordeal, accusing her of having 'unusual activity on her phone, including 1000 deleted text messages from her husband'.
But Ms Saroukos, who married her husband Matt in January after a whirlwind long-distance romance, said she was 'in disbelief at how ridiculous' the statement was and claimed that some of the information included had been 'twisted'.
'The reasons they came up with were not even justifiable to throw someone in prison anyway,' she told news.com.au on Monday.
Ms Saroukos strongly denies having any plans to live permanently in the US, and believes people are missing the point of her story, saying she was not hung up on the fact she had been denied entry to the country, but rather how she was treated.
'A country has a right to deport you if they don't want you in their country, fair enough,' she said.
'But I don't agree with the treatment … why are you throwing people in prison, why are they being subject to strip searches and cavity searches and being placed in handcuffs, like your rights taken away from you.'
Homeland Security addresses the uproar
Homeland Security said Ms Saroukos was selected for further screening at the airport on arrival to the US because of 'recent long-term trips' and 'suspicious luggage'.
Then, 'officers determined that she was travelling for more than just tourism,' the statement said.
The department went on to share details about Ms Saroukos' relationship.
FACT CHECK: Nicolle Saroukos’s recent long-term trips to the United States and suspicious luggage resulted in her being reasonably selected for secondary screening by CBP.
Officers determined that she was traveling for more than just tourism. She was unable to remember her… pic.twitter.com/4oyvQEw4jj
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 30, 2025
'She was unable to remember her wedding date just four months prior,' it said.
'Saroukos met her now-husband during a trip on December 13, 2024, the same day her ex-partner left her. The two spent only eight days together before she returned to Australia on December 21. Saroukos then got married on January 24, 2025, after only knowing her husband for just over a month.
'During screening, CBP (Customs and Border Protection) noted there was unusual activity on her phone, including 1000 deleted text messages from her husband because she claimed they caused her 'anxiety'.
'Saroukos even claimed that her husband was going to leave the US military, despite him telling CBP he was adding her to his military documents.
'If you attempt to enter the United States under false pretenses, there are consequences.'
'Ridiculous': Nikki Saroukos hits back
Ms Saroukos told news.com.au that while she generally agreed with the Homeland Security timeline, it left out that she had been talking to her now-husband on a dating app for months before they met in person in December.
She denied meeting him for the first time the same day she split with her ex-partner.
She explained that her relationship with her ex had been complicated, and although they had split earlier that year, they went on a holiday to Hawaii together but 'stayed in separate rooms'.
'I met my husband after my ex had left the island. I relocated to a different hotel, three days after I got that new hotel I then reached out to Matthew and we tried to organise to catch up,' she said.
As for not remembering her wedding date, Ms Saroukos said her mind went blank during the hours of interrogation.
'I was crying at this point. I was under immense stress,' she said.
'With the decision of them coming out and saying 'she didn't remember her (wedding) date', I'm like it's not a criminal offence to forget a date? I mean, I don't even remember people's birthdays let alone a date under that amount of stress.'
Explaining the 1000 deleted text messages, Ms Saroukos said if the couple were having a disagreement, she would delete their conversation on her iPhone to stop her re-reading the messages.
She claimed there was nothing officials could not recover and read from the deleted section on her phone.
'They are just saying because I deleted the text messages, it's suspicious. Again, the only thing I can come back and say with that is, it's not a bloody crime to delete text messages between you and your partner,' she said.
'It's my f***ing phone. I'm not committing an offence. They've just grabbed that and run with it and they're missing out the fact they actually read the deleted text messages and there was nothing (illegal) there.'
In regards to Homeland Security claiming there were varying statements from she and her husband about their future, she claimed the long-term plan was for her husband to apply for a visa and move to Australia after leaving the military, therefore she had no intention of getting a green card as a military spouse. Ms Saroukos told news.com.au that her husband had only mentioned he would start an application for a green card while she was being questioned because of the sudden difficulty she was facing travelling with an ESTA.
'If I was going to move to the US, I would have done it a long time ago. I would not be spending thousands of dollars going back and forth on plane tickets to go see my husband and I would have already started an application if that was the case,' she said.
'Not once did I ever say nor was there any plan that I was going to permanently live in the United States.'
Ms Saroukos still does not know for sure why her luggage was deemed suspicious, but based on comments from officers during inspection, she suspects maybe they thought she had too much luggage but argued she was 'not bringing anything illegal into the country'.
'Never been so terrified': Strip search horror
Ms Saroukos travelled to Hawaii with her mother. They were taken to a holding area at Daniel K Inouye International Airport in Honolulu where their bags and documents were inspected.
Her mother was free to go after the search but Ms Saroukos was taken to a second location where she was subjected to further interrogation.
There, she said she was forced to surrender her phone and passwords, and questioned about her work as a former NSW Police officer.
'They questioned me about the demographic of my suburb and what crimes I was exposed to as a police officer,' Ms Saroukos told news.com.au on May 22.
'They were asking me about ice and meth and whether I knew how much was being imported from New Zealand.'
She said she had 'no idea' how to answer the questions and was 'just dumbfounded'. She was also grilled me on her income, marriage and phone history.
Ms Saroukos was then subjected to a DNA swab, which she was given no explanation for, she claimed.
She was further forced to sign a document declaring she was not a part of a cartel and had no affiliation with gang members.
In the end, Ms Saroukos was still denied entry to the US.
'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.
Ms Saroukos said she was handcuffed, subjected to an in-depth cavity search and taken to a federal detention facility, where she was fingerprinted again, ordered to strip naked, squat and cough, and handed prison issued briefs and green outerwear.
After a night in prison, she was taken back to the airport to fly home to Sydney.
Ms Saroukos said her mother and husband were not told of her whereabouts while she was detained.
'I never want to return to the United States,' she said, adding that her husband was she was hopeful her husband could eventually move to Australia.
— with reporting by Ella Mcilveen
Why denied tourists can end up in federal prison
CBP has long had strong powers to deny entry, detain and deport foreigners at their discretion when travellers arrive in the country even if they have a valid visa or ESTA. However, what we are seeing under the Trump administration is described as 'enhanced vetting'.
Australians are being warned to not assume they are exempt to more intense checks, including inspections of emails, text messages or social media accounts at the airport.
Melissa Vincenty, a US immigration lawyer and Australian migration agent who is managing director of Worldwide Migration Partners, told news.com.au recently that being taken to federal prison with no criminal record, no drugs or anything that is a danger to society is the reality of being denied entry to the US in Hawaii.
Ms Vincenty, a dual-citizen who was a deportation defence lawyer in Honolulu before moving to Australia, explained the state did not have an immigration facility so people were taken to the Federal Detention Center Honolulu, where there was no separate wing for immigration.
It meant tourists who were denied entry to the US could be held alongside those awaiting trial — or who have been convicted and were waiting to be transferred to a mainland prison for serious federal crimes, such as kidnapping, bank robbery or drug crimes.
'It's like in the movies — you go there and there's bars, you get strip searched, all your stuff is taken away from you, you're not allowed to call anybody, nobody knows where you are,' Ms Vincenty told news.com.au in April after the experience of two young German tourists being strip searched and thrown in prison made global headlines.
Ms Vincenty said for Australians who were denied entry to the US in other locations like Los Angeles, San Francisco or Dallas, being held in detention facilities until the next available flight home was a real risk as there weren't constant return flights to Australia — meaning you might have to wait until the next day.
If not taken to a detention facility, some travellers may stay sitting for hours in what is called a secondary inspection at the airport.
A secondary inspection includes further vetting such as searching a travellers' electronic devices.
'That period can last from half an hour to 15 hours or more,' she said.
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