If an American tries to enter the UK on the wrong visa, will they be thrown into a for-profit prison?

Or just be turned around?

An American relative of mine had this experience. She was entering the UK legally but the immigration officer decided something was off and they have an absolute right to decline entry. The last flight back to the USA had gone so she was held overnight in a local police station before flying back the next day.

You do at least get your own cell in the UK.

That's unpleasant but flying back on the next available flight is still way better than the Canadian woman who was held for weeks despite begging to pay for her own ticket back to Canada.

The UK situation you describe has clear reasoning. The US system just seems to be throwing people into a black hole without rules.

I don't really care if someone profits off of prisoners, plus they haven't existed federally since 2022; might want to update your rejoinder.

Furthermore, I've had friends who entered the UK on the wrong visa for a degree be shoved into a holding cell then deported. Fortunately they were granted the right one later, but it's standard procedure to enforce your laws.

What about the US makes Europeans and other foreigners think they have a unique right to enter? That's a privilege for US citizens only.

Turning people away is understandable. Putting them in private prisons at taxpayer expense when they're begging to fly home is at best a waste of taxpayer money (from the "fiscal conservative" right?) and at worst a civil rights abuse. Sending Venezuelan asylum seekers to a labor camp in El Salvador is even worse.

> they haven't existed federally since 2022

I think you are misinformed:

> In 2025, CoreCivic announced it would reopen South Texas Family Residential Center, under ICE contract, with capacity to detain up to 2,400 people

> What about the US makes Europeans and other foreigners think they have a unique right to enter? That's a privilege for US citizens only.

Wait, what?

For one thing, there are treaties that guarantee that. Of course, the current administration has already broken quite a few treaties in the first 100 days, so what's one more?

For another thing, that's how science, industry and business work. I've been invited dozens of times to the US either to work with/for a university, to present results at conferences, to work with US companies. Cutting that seems a certain way to ensure the decline of US industry, business and science, and encourage all of this to happen elsewhere, whether it's Europe, China, India, Japan... Of course, that seems to be a common trend with the decisions of said administration, so... maybe that's the goal?