Things are getting so rocky at the U.S. border these days that even a well-regarded MMA coach from Australia with no criminal background can end up in a federal prison over a simple visa issue.
Renato Subotic has trained some of the top fighters in the sport and travels around the world giving seminars. But following what was allegedly described by U.S. immigration officers as a ‘visa issue,’ Subotic says he was taken to the Honolulu Federal Detention Center where he was kept for 24 hours.
“I arrived in America excited, ready to coach my seminar,” Subotic wrote on Instagram. “It was supposed to be a great trip. Instead, I got stopped at the border. Immigration pulled me aside and took me into an isolated room. The officer interviewing me looked like he was looking for something wrong. It was obvious why I was in the U.S. I gave them every specific detail about my seminar, my plans, everything.”
“They kept me in that room for three hours, asking endless questions, I was collaborative. They told me there was a mistake with my visa and that they were taking me to jail ‘until they figure out what’s next.’ Just like that. No clear explanation, no chance to talk to anyone, no rights. They handcuffed me, put me in a car, and drove me to federal prison.”
From there Subotic says he stripped, searched, fingerprinted, and then tossed into general population where he got into a fight with members of a Mexican prison gang. Fortunately, he was transferred back to the airport where he was deported back to Australia before things could escalate any further.
“At the airport, they kept me in a room without telling me when I’d fly,” Subotic wrote. “Eventually, I got the info: I was being deported. An officer walked me to the plane. Before taking off the handcuffs, he looked at me and said, ‘I’m sorry this happened to you. They messed up big. It shouldn’t have gone this way.’”
“This whole experience was unreal. It’s insane how easily someone can take away your freedom, lock you in a federal prison, without a clear reason. No explanation. No warning. Just like that, you’re treated like the worst criminal. I believe in respecting the rules. But putting someone in federal prison over a missing detail in a visa application?”
Subotic says he’s speaking with his lawyers about what happened.
“Something has to be done about the way I was treated.”
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
