Yep. Last time I went to the US I made a mistake with my visa and was briefly detained. it could totally happen to me again, so I'd need a really good reason to run that risk again.
So... immigration services in the US don't use criminal language when discussing how they handle people accused of immigration offenses, because there's a whole legal structure to pretending it's a civil infraction and thus you don't have any rights related to say... trial by jury or the state proving your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
But. The mechanical processes can include indefinite detention in facilities that look and function exactly like jails.
So... what you CALL it is almost certainly something different than what it is.
I've been in secondary, but didn't have it described to me that way. I would not call it detainment without clarifying it because I associate that word with incarceration, but I am also reluctant to travel knowing the odds of that happening again are up.
They were quite clear that I wasn't allowed to leave and I wasn't allowed to use my phone. I'm not sure where a debate about semantics would have gotten me.
Aren't all immigration "arrests" all "detentions", technically speaking (not that it makes any difference in reality - you're behind bars)? Aren't ICE prisons called "detention centers"?
