The young Australian locked up in the Americas by border security officials has been released from detention and granted passage back home. No, not her, the other one.
Canberra man Baxter Reid, 26, was given bail yesterday after spending time behind bars for allegedly overstaying his U.S. visa by 90 minutes.
ICYMI, Reid’s five-year-long visa stated he had to leave the country every six months to keep it valid. He and American partner Heather Kansco took a quick trip to Canada from New York State last month on the night it was due to expire, but Canadian authorities held him for a couple of hours before granting him entry.
When he made the journey back south, he was detained by American authorities for the apparent violation.
Following yesterday’s court hearing, Reid was released from Buffalo Federal Detention Facility on bail, and was given 120 days to scram back to Australia. That’s incrementally longer than 90 minutes, so Reid may just be able to avoid any dicey border mix-ups this time around.
Reid’s attorney Julie Kruger said “he was trying to comply with immigration visa laws,” and that she was “pleased that the Department of Homeland Security was willing to listen to our arguments.”
FWIW, Kansco intends to accompany Reid back to Australia. We can only hope our border security detail doesn’t kick up a fuss about that one.
Source: The Age.
Photo: Baxter Reid / Facebook.
