The love story of Trevor Hughes and his fiancee began in an elementary school in the Himalayan foothills.

They were “global nomads.” He was a diplomat’s son. She the daughter of missionaries. They lived in Asia, attended school together, fell in love and want to get married in June. But when Hughes’ fiancee, a German national, tried to visit him on a six-month tourist visa Monday, she was detained in Atlanta, handcuffed, jailed—even stripped of her diamond engagement ring. Then, after 20 hours without food, she was put on a plane and shipped back to Stuttgart. “This isn’t the America I fought for,” said Hughes, who served in the Navy and U.S. diplomatic corps. “You don’t expect that from a great country like ours.”

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p>— Land of the Free?: Turned away at the border

(via Cory Doctorow)

[See also: De M’amour Soiez Sure | Going down | North to Alaska | How much to ship…me? | Bush denied ‘license to kill’ ]

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