A Berlin exchange student has been interrogated by the FBI in Texas on suspicion of terrorism. Now he is no longer allowed to enter the USA. He doesn’t know the exact reason. The boy’s father, a lawyer, writes a letter to Secretary of State Baerbock asking for help.
A 16-year-old Berlin exchange student was on an exchange year in Round Rock, Texas. On May 19 of this year, he was reportedly suddenly pulled out of class and placed in a room with FBI officials. The “Tagesspiegel” first reported on the case.
The FBI investigators questioned him there about terrorism, according to a letter from the boy’s father, a lawyer by profession, to Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and the German Embassy in Washington. The letter is available to the “Tagesspiegel”.
It also describes the interrogation using the student’s memory protocol: First, they asked the 16-year-old about his experiences in the USA. Suddenly they changed the subject. Officials wanted to know if he had made any new friends in the US who were “talking about terrorism or anything related to it.” He was also asked about his friends in Germany and whether his family talked about terrorism.
The 16-year-old describes the conclusion as follows: “Then the officer with whom I had been talking the whole time thanked him for the nice conversation, noting that I stayed very calm, unlike many others people he questioned.”
After that he would not have heard from them again. According to the Tagesspiegel, the exchange organization also speaks of a “funny mystery”. The organization later found out through the school that the FBI suspected the student of having “a connection to someone in Germany that they have on their radar.” And further: “When it comes to terrorism, the FBI has the freedom to do whatever they deem necessary.”
In June, the student traveled back to Germany. A short time later came the surprise: When he and his family wanted to book electronic entry permits for another trip to the USA, this was denied. He was not authorized to enter the country, it was said.
The lawyer and father of the 16-year-old is appalled. For him, the behavior of the FBI officials “appears to be unlawful in several respects,” he writes. A minor is always entitled to a legal representative when interrogated by the state. The boy was also given no legal advice. All attempts to get in touch with the German embassy have failed, he continues in the letter to Baerbock.
When asked by FOCUS Online, a spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Office said: “In the case described, neither our embassy in Washington nor our consulate general in Houston were contacted, either when the survey came up or immediately afterwards.” Other states are not obliged to Inform diplomatic missions abroad about surveys. “This obligation only applies in the event of arrest/detention.”
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