Berlin – Jessica Lia Brösche is an artist in the Berlin tattoo who escaped from German frigid winter to the Sun of Northern Mexico. She planned to add a short trip across the border to visit a friend in Los Angeles. But she never succeeded.
Brösche was arrested for the application of immigration and customs when he tried to enter the United States near San Diego on January 26, six days after the inauguration of President Trump. The 29 -year -old German citizen was held at the Otay Mesa detention Center for six weeks before he was allowed to fly home.
“They treat you on the border as if you were a criminal,” Brösche told The Times after returning to Berlin. “I just wanted to visit a friend in Los Angeles for a few days.”
The German consulate did not comment on the case. In an email to Associated Press, ICE did not discuss the case of Brösche in detail, but said that “if the statutes or terms of visa are violated, travelers may be subject to detention and elimination.”
Brösche's arrest reached the headlines throughout Europe.
“Berlin Woman enters 'History of horror' at the United States detention center while facing deportation,” wrote a German newspaper. “Is the United States taking energetic measures against German tourists entering the country?” wrote another.
Brösche's experience, and the media reports of other Germans or Europeans arrested by immigration authorities, may have contributed to a chill on trips to the United States, which is normally one of the most popular destinations abroad for the Germans, with more than 2 million visitors every year.
There was an appreciable fall in the United States visitors from Europe in March, after the Trump administration introduced an aggressive offensive against immigration. The number of German visitors fell more precipitously, 28% less in March compared to the previous March, according to data from the International Trade Administration, a German government agency.
There were also much less Germans who arrived in California in March, 26% to 20,847 since March 2024, the agency said.
Visit California, a non -profit organization for tourism, recently reduced its prognosis for the expenditure of 2025 for all visitors in the state at $ 6 billion to $ 160 billion after seeing the decrease in the first quarter.
“I don't want to risk standing at the airport and then taken to a prison in El Salvador, with a shaved hair and forced to kneel in line with the prisoners.”
– Karolina Pieper, German citizen
Reflecting the decrease in the demand for visiting California, Germany air rates have also fallen. The seats in the round trip flights from mid -summer from Berlin to Los Angeles can now be found for only $ 500, or approximately half expensive that a year ago.
The trend has lent alarm because visitors abroad have an important impact on the economy of the United States, especially in California, one of the main destinations for German tourists.
A banner with President Trump hangs near the entrance of the United States Agriculture in Washington. There was an appreciable fall in the United States visitors from Europe in March, after the Trump administration introduced an aggressive offensive against immigration.
(Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images)
Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economy, told The Times that his independent organization had reduced his prognosis for tourism to the United States from a 9% gain in 2025 to a 9% drop due to the turbulence caused since Trump assumed the position.
“In a nutshell, international leisure travelers have a complete discretion about when and where they travel, and negative perceptions are reducing interest in visiting the United States,” Sacks wrote in an email.
The Germans, who receive six weeks of vacations paid every year, are among the most abundant travelers in the world and their absence this summer would probably feel at the California hot points such as Universal Studios, Disneyland, Beaches and Death Valley. The Germans spent $ 112 billion on foreign trips in 2023, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, only following Chinese visitors ($ 197 billion) and Americans ($ 150 billion).
The absence of German tourists this summer would probably feel at the California hot points as Universal Studios. The Germans spent $ 112 billion on foreign trips in 2023, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
(Amanda Villegas / for times)
Residents of other countries have sworn travel to the United States to protest Trump policies on immigration, foreign affairs or tariffs. Many Canadians have remained far away, especially from Palm Springs, which usually houses a large contingent of Canadians.
The decrease in German tourists, however, does not reflect politics, but fear.
Brösche was widely cited in the German press saying that he was held in a small cell for nine days. “Being in lone confinement was difficult,” he told Times. “I had headaches and began to receive panic attacks. I was about to lose it.” The company that owns the detention center, Corecivic, has denied that it has been delayed in such confinement.
“I love traveling to the United States, but I don't think I will risk this year,” said Karolina Pieper, a 39 -year -old Mainz official who generally annuls in the United States three times a year. “I don't want to risk standing at the airport and then taken to a prison in El Salvador, with a shaved hair and forced to kneel in line with the prisoners.”
The Germans with businesses in the US also report the growing anxiety. Martin Moszkowicz, a Constantin Film executive, said some German actors and writers, who in the past had published criticism of Trump on social networks, were recent about traveling to the United States for fear of being arrested.
“All this is creating a lot of uncertainty, and that is never good for business,” said Moszkowicz.
A traveler awaits within the Delta Airlines terminal at the Los Angeles International Airport. The number of German visitors to the United States decreased by 28% in March of the previous year, according to data from the International Trade Administration, a German government agency.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
German news reports subject to special scrutiny when they try to enter the US. UU. They continue to circulate.
A German electrical engineer named Fabian Schmidt, 34, has had a green card since 2008. But he was arrested at Logan Airport in Boston when he returned from a visit to Germany on March 7 and was held for two months.
His mother, Astrid Senior, was summoned in reports from German media who said he had been deprived of sleep, food and water when he was held for three weeks arrested in Rhode Island. She said the authorities would not let her have her anxiety medicine and that her condition deteriorated to the point that she had to be taken to a hospital.
“I would have a real problem with all the stress that goes to the United States now,” said Udo Gelzik, 64, a solar energy entrepreneur of a suburb of Berlin. “All these German stories were arrested on the border just for trying to visit on vacation. I could not handle the interrogation. My English is not very good and I would be afraid to say something wrong. And then finish in jail just because I did not understand something. No thanks.”
Gelzik said he will spend a few weeks this year in Canada.
Brösche said that at first the authorities said he suspected that he was trying to work illegally in the United States because he was traveling with his tattoo team, then he told him that he had stayed longer than the 90 days allowed in his visa during a trip to Chicago two years ago. She said that the immigration authorities then told her that they had caught her trying to enter the United States illegally.
Brösche said all those statements were false. She had her tattoo team, she said, but she was planning to tint a fellow tattoo artist, not work professionally.
Others have reported that you are looking for, handcuffed and blocked with stripes, often without explanation.
“He was really humiliating,” Maria Lepere, a 19 -year -old German from Rostock who was arrested along with her friend Charlotte Pohl, also 19, at Honolulu airport for 24 hours in March.
Lepere insisted that she and Pohl had valid visas, but a customs officer and border protection cited in the New York Post said that the couple had tried to enter the United States “under false claims”, with the aim of working, not visiting as tourists.
Lepere said they told him that the authorities suspected about their three -week planning in Hawaii because they had reserved a hotel only for the first part of their visit. The couple, who had been traveling around the world, took the shots of the cup, denied the entrance and flew back to Tokyo.
They found the episode of the absurd cup, said Lpere, who photographed them smiling and almost laughing when they were photographed.
“It was crazy,” Lpere said. “We couldn't understand it. They put us through metal detectors and our entire bodies were scanned. We had to be naked in front of police women and let them check us.”
On March 18, the German government issued a travel warning over the United States, warning on its website that the United States border control agents have the final decision on the entrance, even if travelers have valid visas, and added that even the slightest irregularity or infraction could result in detention.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described the treatment of German tourists in “unacceptable” border controls and said he would present protests with US authorities.
As for Brösche, he said that, as disgusting as visiting the United States again, he would not completely rule out the possibility that one day he arrives in Los Angeles.
“I can't forget what happened, but I can forgive, and if I could reach Los Angeles without any discomfort at the border, I would love to see Los Angeles,” he said.
Kirschbaum is a special correspondent.
