The US government has launched an extraordinary attack on an Australian woman who complained she was detained, stripped and held overnight in a federal prison while trying to visit her American boyfriend. Former NSW Police officer Nikki Saroukos, 25, was detained by US border officials when she arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii on May 17. The 25-year-old thought it would be a routine visit to see her husband who has been stationed as a US Army lieutenant on the Pacific island and US state since August 2023.
Mrs Saroukos had successfully visited Hawaii three times in recent months on an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) under the Visa Waiver Program. At no point was she given a reason for her detention on May 17, beyond the fact that border officials did not believe that she was visiting her husband. Mrs Saroukos said she was ‘treated like a criminal’ and claimed she was denied her rights, subject to invasive searches, humiliating treatment and a night in a federal detention facility before being deported back to Australia.
The US Department of Homeland Security fired back at Mrs Sourokos and issued a ‘fact check’ on her claims in a post shared to social media platform X on Saturday. The department defended its officers who determined Mrs Saroukos was ‘travelling for more than just tourism’, and took aim at the brief duration of her marriage. ‘Nicolle Saroukos’s recent long-term trips to the United States and suspicious luggage resulted in her being reasonably selected for secondary screening by CBP,’ the post read.
Officials claimed she had packed more clothing than was necessary for a three-week stay. ‘Officers determined that she was traveling for more than just tourism. She was unable to remember her wedding date just four months prior,’ the post read. ‘Saroukos met her now-husband 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.’
The department also accused Mrs Saroukos of having ‘unusual activity on her phone’ and making false claims about her husband’s military service. ‘During screening, CBP (Customs and Border Protection) noted there was unusual activity on her phone, including 1000 deleted text messages from her husband because she claimed they caused her “anxiety”,’ the post read. ‘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. ‘If you attempt to enter the United States under false pretenses, there are consequences.’
Mrs Saroukos vehemently denied having any plans to live in the US permanently and slammed Homeland Security’s reasons for putting her in a jail cell as ‘unjustifiable’. While she agreed with the department’s timeline of her relationship, she claimed it failed to mention she had been talking to her husband on a dating app for months before they met in person. Mrs Saroukos also denied the department’s claims that she had met her now-husband on the same day she split from her former-partner. She explained she had split from her ex-partner earlier in the year, but had stayed in ‘separate rooms’ when they holidayed together in Hawaii.
Mrs Saroukos added she relocated to a different hotel when her ex left the island and reached out to meet her future husband three days later. When asked about why she was unable to remember her wedding date, Mrs Saroukos said her mind went blank as she was interrogated for hours. ‘I was crying at this point. I was under immense stress,’ she told news.com.au . ‘With the decision of them coming out and saying ‘she didn’t remember her (wedding) date’, I’m like it’s not a criminal offence to forget a date? I mean, I don’t even remember people’s birthdays let alone a date under that amount of stress.’
Mrs Saroukos said she had deleted the 1,000 text messages as they were when she and her partner were having a disagreement and she did not want to re-read them. She claimed officials could have easily read the conversation by recovering the messages from the deleted section on her iPhone. ‘It’s not a bloody crime to delete text messages between you and your partner,’ Mrs Saroukos said. ‘It’s my [expletive] phone. I’m not committing an offence. They’ve just grabbed that and run with it and they’re missing out the fact they actually read the deleted text messages and there was nothing (illegal) there.’
She added she had no intention of applying for a green card as a military spouse, despite the discrepancies in her and her husband’s statements about the future. Mrs Saroukos said the long-term plan had always been for her husband to apply for a visa and move to Australia after he left the military. She claimed her husband only mentioned applying for a green card while she was being questioned as the ordeal was proving difficult for her to travel. Mrs Saroukos was travelling to Hawaii with her mother for a planned three weeks together, being joined by her working husband on weekends. After clearing customs, however, it became clear things would not be as simple as they had been on her many previous visits.
The pair were taken to a holding area at the Daniel K Inouye International Airport in Honolulu where their bags and documents were inspected. ‘We went through customs and border security, as per usual, and we got stopped to check our passports,’ she told Daily Mail Australia. ‘He [customs officer] went from being super calm, very nice, even giving my mum a compliment, to just instantly turning. ‘He yelled at the top of his lungs and told my mum to go stand at the back of the line because she was being nosy and asking too many questions.
‘Everyone in the airport kind of just froze because his voice literally echoed three rooms over… that’s how loud he was.’ The mother and daughter were then taken downstairs where officers searched their luggage. They were then taken to a private room where the 25-year-old was forced to hand over her phone and passcode. Her mother, who was questioned in the same room, was soon allowed to leave but Mrs Saroukos had to stay, and it would be nearly 24 hours before the two would see each other again.
The officers demanded a written statement on her reasons for travel, income and personal information regarding her relationship with her husband. Some time later, she was required to sign a declaration stating she had no cartel affiliations before being subjected to an oral DNA swab and fingerprinting. She was then told that her entry to the US had been rejected and she would spend the night in a federal detention facility before being deported back to Australia. Ms Saroukos then requested a phone call to her husband but officers assured her they would inform him on her behalf – a promise she would learn the following day they had not made good on.
She was then handcuffed and marched through the airport in full view of the public before being subjected to a full body cavity search at Honolulu Federal Detention Facility. Ms Saroukos was then processed and given a blanket. She was told she had missed the cut-off for dinner and would have to go hungry and was denied a shower on the basis there were no available towels. At 8.40pm, she was locked in a cell with a Fijian woman who had also been detained upon attempting to enter the country for a wedding.
