The US administration debunked the claims of 25-year-old Nicolle Saroukos, an Australian woman who claimed that she was arrested and then deported when she was in the US to visit his American husband stationed in Hawaii. Saroukos claimed she was with her mother and they both came to visit her husband but she was flagged for extra screening at the airport, leading to her arrest and deportation. Saroukos said she was not charged with anything but was strip-searched in prison and was kept with other women convicted of murder and drug offences.The Department of Homeland Security issued a long statement debunking her claims and said she raised suspicion on many accounts and the officers determined that she was not traveling for tourism. She made frequent and long-term trips to the US recently while she could not remember her wedding date — which took place in January 2025.. The DHS investigated Saroukos’ messages and claimed that she met her present husband, a US military official, 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,” DHS said. The administration said there was unusual activity on her phone including deletion of 1,000 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,” the DHS said. “If you attempt to enter the United States under false pretenses, there are consequences,” the administration said.
