Interesting how the legalists are everywhere, eh?
US expels Sydney man after Capitol scare09:57 AEST Fri Apr 15 2005
Expelled Australian tourist Wen Hao Zhao will land back in Sydney on Saturday under the watchful eyes of American immigration officers.Zhao, who paralysed the centre of Washington DC in a tense stand-off outside the Capitol building on Monday, was scheduled to be released from a US immigration detention facility in the US capital on Thursday.
US officials, who declined to be named, said Zhao will be escorted on to a passenger plane by officers from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and they will stay with him until he lands in Sydney on Saturday morning (AEST).
"We will accompany him," a US official told AAP.
"We will make arrangements with the appropriate Australian officials at the other end to make sure he is met."
Zhao, 32, was crash-tackled in a spectacular arrest as he stood outside the Capitol building with two suitcases.
During the stand-off Zhao, who had earlier asked to speak to US President George W. Bush, refused to tell authorities what was in his bags so it was feared he was a suicide bomber.Zhao was arrested and held in US custody until Thursday's release.
He did not contest his removal from the US which sped up his return to Australia.
"He is being expelled from the United States, not deported," an official explained.
"A deportation is a legal requirement. A deportation would require he enter court proceedings and a judge would issue an order of removal for a deportation. This was not needed."
Australians wishing to visit the US on a holiday do not need a visa to enter because Australia and the US share a visa waiver program.
But Zhao, because he is now deemed a visa waiver violator, will find it tougher to re-enter the US if he attempts it in the future.
He will not be automatically refused, but will have to apply for a visa just as a citizen from a country would without a visa waiver relationship with the US.
The history of his removal from the US will be on his record.
"He is a visa waiver violator, so he is going to have to request a visa like any other person from a non visa waiver country," the official said.
"He will have to have permission to re-enter the US.
"He would not be excluded, but he would have to request permission from the United States and his history would be considered."
Zhao, whose arrest was captured by TV crews and beamed around the world, is the latest high-profile visa waiver violator expelled from the US.
He joins British streaker Mark Roberts who was arrested then expelled after he ran naked on to the field of last year's Superbowl in Texas.
"It was similar incident," an official said.
The official said Zhao had breached the visa waiver program in numerous ways during the stand-off in DC.
"When you enter the US under a visa waiver program there are public safety provisions to it and by him acting the way that he did, causing a scare, causing law enforcement to deployed, refusing to comply with law enforcement officers, additionally outside the nation's capital, you just don't conduct yourself that way when you're a guest of the country," the official said.
©AAP 2005