By JULIE WATSON, Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Lennon Tyler and her German fiancé often took road trips to Mexico when he vacationed in the United States since it was only a day’s drive from her home in Las Vegas, one of the perks of their long-distance relationship.

But things went terribly wrong when they drove back from Tijuana last month.

U.S. border agents handcuffed Tyler, a U.S. citizen, and chained her to a bench, while her fiancé, Lucas Sielaff, was accused of violating the rules of his 90-day U.S. tourist permit, the couple said. Authorities later handcuffed and shackled Sielaff and sent him to a crowded U.S. immigration detention center. He spent 16 days locked up before being allowed to fly home to Germany.

Since President Donald Trump took office, there have been other incidents of tourists like Sielaff being stopped at U.S. border crossings and held for weeks at U.S. immigration detention facilities before being allowed to fly home at their own expense.

They include another German tourist who was stopped at the Tijuana crossing on Jan. 25. Jessica Brösche spent over six weeks locked up, including over a week in solitary confinement, a friend said.

On the Canadian border, a backpacker from Wales spent nearly three weeks at a detention center before flying home this week. And a Canadian woman on a work visa detained at the Tijuana border spent 12 days in detention before returning home last weekend.

Sielaff, 25, and the others say it was never made clear why they were taken into custody even after they offered to go home voluntarily.

Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee, a nonprofit that aids migrants, said in the 22 years he has worked on the border he’s never seen travelers from Western Europe and Canada, longtime U.S. allies, locked up like this.

“It’s definitely unusual with these cases so close together, and the rationale for detaining these people doesn’t make sense,” he said. “It doesn’t justify the abhorrent treatment and conditions” they endured.

“The only reason I see is there is a much more fervent anti-immigrant atmosphere,” Rios said.

Of course, tourists from countries where the U.S. requires visas — many of them non-Western nations — have long encountered difficulties entering the U.S.

U.S. authorities did not respond to a request from The Associated Press for figures on how many tourists have recently been held at detention facilities or explain why they weren’t simply denied entry.

Weekslong lockups fuel anxieties about tourist travel to US

The incidents are fueling anxiety as the Trump administration prepares for a ban on travelers from some countries. Noting the “evolving” federal travel policies, the University of California, Los Angeles sent a notice this week urging its foreign-born students and staff to consider the risks of travel for spring break, warning “re-entry requirements may change while you are away, impacting your return.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in an email to the AP that Sielaff and Brösche, who was held for 45 days, “were deemed inadmissible” by Customs and Border Protection. That agency said it cannot discuss specifics but “if statutes or visa terms are violated, travelers may be subject to detention and removal.” The agencies did not comment on the other cases.

Both German tourists were allowed into the United States under a program offered to a select group of countries, mostly in Europe and Asia, whose citizens are allowed to travel to the U.S. for business or leisure for up to 90 days without getting a visa in advance. Applicants register online with the Electronic System for Travel Authorization.

But even if they are authorized to travel under that system, they can still be barred from entering the country.

Sielaff arrived in the U.S. on Jan. 27. He and Tyler decided to go to Tijuana for four days in mid-February because Tyler’s dog needed surgery and veterinary services are cheaper there. They figured they would enjoy some tacos and make a fun trip out of it.

Lucas Sielaff poses for a photo in Bad Bibra, Germany, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Stella Weiss)

“Mexico is a wonderful and beautiful country that Lucas and I love to visit,” Tyler said.

They returned Feb. 18, just 22 days into Sielaff’s 90-day tourist permit.

When they pulled up to the crossing, the U.S. border agent asked Sielaff aggressively, “Where are you going? Where do you live?” Tyler said.

“English is not Lucas’ first language and so he said, ‘We’re going to Las Vegas,’ and the agent says, ’Oh, we caught you. You live in Las Vegas. You can’t do that,’” Tyler said.

Sielaff was taken away for more questioning. Tyler said she asked to go with him or if he could get a translator and was told to be quiet, then taken out of her car and handcuffed and chained to a bench. Her dog, recovering from surgery, was left in the car.

After four hours, Tyler was allowed to leave but said she was given no information about her fiancé’s whereabouts.

During questioning, Sielaff said he told authorities he never lived in the U.S. and had no criminal history. He said he was given a full-body search and ordered to hand over his cellphone and belongings. He was put in a holding cell where he slept on a bench for two days before being transferred to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego.

There, he said, he shared a cell with eight others.

“You are angry, you are sad, you don’t know when you can get out,” Sielaff said. “You just don’t get any answers from anybody.”

He was finally told to get a direct flight to Germany and submit a confirmation number. In a frantic call from Sielaff, Tyler bought it for $2,744. He flew back March 5.

‘A blatant abuse’ of US border authorities’ power, victims say

“What happened at the border was just blatant abuse of the Border Patrol’s power,” Tyler said.

Ashley Paschen agrees. She said she learned about Brösche from a TikTok video asking anyone in the San Diego area for help after her family learned she was being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. Paschen visited her several times and told her people were working to get her out. Brosche flew home March 11.

“She’s happy to be home,” Paschen said. “She seems very relieved if anything but she’s not coming back here anytime soon.”

On Feb. 26, a tourist from Wales, Becky Burke, a backpacker traveling across North America, was stopped at the U.S.-Canada border and held for nearly three weeks at a detention facility in Washington state, her father, Paul Burke, posted on Facebook. She returned home Tuesday.

On March 3, Canadian Jasmine Mooney, an actress and entrepreneur on a U.S. work visa, was detained at the Tijuana crossing. She was released Saturday, her friend Brittany Kors said.

Before Mooney’s release, British Columbia Premier David Eby expressed concern, saying: “It certainly reinforces anxiety that … many Canadians have about our relationship with the U.S. right now, and the unpredictability of this administration and its actions.”

The detentions come amid legal fights over the Trump administration’s arrests and deportations of other foreigners with valid visas and green card holders, including a Palestinian activist who helped organize campus protests of the war in Gaza.

Tyler plans to sue the U.S. government.

Sielaff said he and Tyler are now rethinking plans to hold their wedding in Las Vegas. He suffers nightmares and is considering therapy to cope with the trauma.

“Nobody is safe there anymore to come to America as a tourist,” he said.

Associated Press writer Rob Gillies reported from Toronto.

On March 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to start dismantling the Department of Education (DOE) after moving to cut half of its workforce the prior week. The DOE manages a wide range of funding for universities, such as research grants and grants and loans for college students, as well as funding for low-income students and students with disabilities in K-12 public schools. The DOE’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) enforces the nation’s civil rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to protect students from discrimination based on race, gender, and disability in universities and K-12 public schools. 

A complete abolition of the DOE would require congressional approval. But members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, representing 2,800 DOE employees, are speaking out and not waiting for that to happen. The Texas Observer spoke to Local 252 President Sheria Smith, an OCR attorney, and the union’s Chief Steward Brittany Coleman, also an OCR attorney. Both worked from DOE’s Dallas regional office, until the office was recently closed down and its employees let go. 

Coleman (left), Congresswoman Alma Adams, Smith (Courtesy)

TO: Can you take us through the tumultuous two months at the DOE since Trump became president?

Smith: At the Office for Civil Rights, we were informed, not in writing, mind you, that we could no longer perform any work. … The pause lasted for so long that a day or two before we received our layoffs, they lifted the pause in writing, so as to start doing work only to lay off more than half of the workforce in the next step. I think we have in this administration a desire for us not to enforce civil rights laws because we have been hamstrung on those efforts. 

Tell me about the work you used to do.

Smith: I came to the U.S. Department of Education to what I thought was a dream role at the Office for Civil Rights and a role that would allow me to marry my legal background with my education background and help enforce protections of Title VI, Title II, and Title IX [of the Civil Rights Act], things that I saw from my time in teaching that needed more support and enforcement. When I came on board, our office was handling a huge Title IX sexual assault complaint coming out of Baylor University.

We made sure that we protected all students, regardless of race, sex, or disability. 

Coleman: A lot of the cases that I handled were disability cases, making sure that students who have reasonable accommodations, are able to get those accommodations from their schools, and that the schools are, if they receive funding from the Department of Education, complying with federal non-discrimination laws. 

We had such a busy caseload, and now that our office is eliminated, what does this mean for cases where there are more immediate needs, like, if a student is taking a test and they need more time, and they’re not receiving that additional time?

Smith: Sometimes the complaints weren’t just from families and parents. Sometimes the complaints were also from staff members, particularly special education staff. We make sure districts are not just secluding the child, restraining the child, or putting the child out of the classroom and out of the learning environment, and sometimes, unfortunately, shackling the kid because of the effects of their disability. I certainly think that these are expectations that Texans have when they send their children to school.

Trump has said that the agency would still continue to distribute funding to K-12 public schools, such as Title I funding for low-income students and IDEA [Individuals with Disabilities Education Act] funding. Even so, what concerns do you have for public school students that rely on federal funding? 

Coleman: Under Project 2025, funding, like for IDEA, could just be block-granted and sent to the states. There won’t be any oversight of what’s happening to the funding. There won’t be anyone to make sure that that funding is getting to the students who have disabilities, to make sure that they are receiving the services that they’re supposed to receive as special education students. So my overall concern is that with any of this funding—where will the federal oversight be to make sure that it’s getting to the populations where it’s supposed to go?

The DOE also manages financial assistance for college students, including Pell grants and federal student loans. What concerns do you have for college students who rely on this funding?

Coleman: This is a crucial time right now because students have applied for colleges or trade schools, and now they’re having to deal with, for example, being on the phone with FAFSA for five hours. So that is definitely inefficient and frustrating for people who are taxpayers, who are paying to receive these services from us, and they’re not receiving it. 

For me, without receiving federal financial aid, I would not have been able to attend Washington University in St. Louis or Cornell Law School. In the media, [the job cuts] are being painted as a punishment for us. But they’re not punishing us. They’re punishing children because they’re robbing them of opportunities for higher education, and they’re robbing them of being able to receive the assistance they need to even stand a chance to get there in the first place. 

The DOE has launched an “End DEI” portal calling on the public to file complaints. The agency opened an investigation into Rice University and the University of North Texas-Denton and others for “race-exclusionary practices.” What impact will this have on schools?

Coleman: It’s disconcerting to see the full force of the federal government coming down on universities and infringing upon their abilities to be able to have programs that are tailored to helping different communities that may have been previously disenfranchised because of race or because of the lack of economic opportunities, or because students are from a family that immigrated here. 

Schools are concerned that they are going to be found out of compliance and lose money, like how we’ve seen our agency recently strip $400 million from Columbia University. 

How have the job losses impacted you and your fellow coworkers and union members?

Coleman: AFGE Local 252 has 2,800 people that are all across the country. We only represent Department of Education employees. It’s been really fascinating to see how passionate people are that work with us. A lot of them are former educators. A lot of them are former veterans. And we’re proud to not only serve our country in the armed forces, but we’re also proud to serve the country in this capacity. 

What I feel is anger because it just feels like we’ve been villainized in the American public. We’ve been conditioned to not talk to the media as good civil servants because we’re supposed to be apolitical. But this narrative that we are just bad people trying to tell people what to teach their kids in school, to teach “woke ideology” which we’re not, and we’ve never been in charge of curriculum, it’s infuriating. People don’t understand how we have touched so many people’s lives in so many different ways, and yet our work has gone unnoticed by the people who should understand its value.

I just hope that people realize that it’s not because we don’t want to serve you. It’s because we have people in power right now who want to break this system and who want to get rid of the fact that education is an equalizer. 

How are members of AFGE Local 252 fighting back?

Coleman: We have to be realistic with the fact that we may not be able to engage in this work. But it does not mean that we do not want to do it, and we still have a ton of support from our membership to continue to fight. We don’t believe that this is right. We don’t believe this is legal. And we don’t believe that this will actually benefit the American public. So we are definitely fighting because we want these services restored. We want to make sure that our kids can have the best. 

We are calling on our leaders to stop this reduction in force, to re-open our offices, and to put everyone back on duty. Many are still employees until June, but they are on administrative leave, so we want to make sure that we’re able to actually do the case work that we’re supposed to do, or to work on the grants, or to work on FAFSA. 

We are working in conjunction with AFGE national to look at all of our current options. We expect the government to comply with our collective bargaining agreement, which means for changes like this, we should have been notified properly and engaged. We have just filed two grievances concerning what’s happening. So those are internal complaints that are based on our contract, because we expect our contract to be enforced. As far as other legal actions, we are still exploring our options, and we are hearing from other external stakeholders across the country who are concerned. We saw that with the lawsuit that was filed by 21 Attorney General Offices from other states [not Texas].

We’re engaging Congressmembers. We are engaging the media. What we’re doing is just trying to dispel the misinformation about what we do, so that people realize that we’re not just some bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. We’re trying to let people know that we, too, are Texans, and we understand what’s going on because we live in your communities. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post ‘We’re Not Just Some Bureaucrats’: DOE Employees on How Their Work Helps Texas Students appeared first on The Texas Observer.

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By CHEYANNE MUMPHREY and JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Education Writers

Until recently, it was a little-known program to help Black and Latino students pursue business degrees.

But in January, conservative strategist Christopher Rufo flagged the program known as The PhD Project in social media posts that caught the attention of Republican politicians. The program is now at the center of a Trump administration campaign to root out diversity, equity and inclusion programs in higher education.

The U.S. Education Department last week said it was investigating dozens of universities for alleged racial discrimination, citing ties to the nonprofit organization. That followed a warning a month earlier that schools could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.

FILE – The headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education, March 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

The investigations left some school leaders startled and confused, wondering what prompted the inquiries. Many scrambled to distance themselves from The PhD Project, which has aimed to help diversify the business world and higher education faculty.

The rollout of the investigations highlights the climate of fear and uncertainty in higher education, which President Donald Trump’s administration has begun policing for policies that run afoul of his agenda even as he moves to dismantle the Education Department.

There is a range of nonprofits that work to help minority groups advance in higher education but The PhD Project was not well known before Rufo began posting on X about its work with colleges, said Jonathan Fansmith, senior vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education, an association of college presidents.

“It’s not hard to draw some lines between that incident and why 45 institutions that were partners with The PhD Project are getting this investigation announced,” he said.

The 45 colleges under investigation for ties to the organization include public universities such as Arizona State, Ohio State and the University of California, Berkeley, along with private schools like Yale, Cornell, Duke and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

People rally at the University of California, Berkeley campus to protest the Trump administration Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

The Education Department sent letters to the universities informing them its Office for Civil Rights had received a complaint and they were under investigation for allegedly discriminating against students on the basis of race or ethnicity because of a past affiliation with The PhD Project. The letters set a March 31 deadline for information about their relationship with the nonprofit.

In a statement, the PhD Project said it aims to “create a broader talent pipeline” of business leaders. “This year, we have opened our membership application to anyone who shares that vision,” it said.

Public reaction from the universities’ leadership has been minimal and cautious, with most issuing brief statements saying they will cooperate with investigators and refusing further comment.

Colleges may see reason not to push back. The Trump administration has shown willingness to withhold federal funding over issues involving antisemitism allegations, diversity programs and transgender athletes. At Columbia University, under fire for its handling of pro-Palestinian protests, the administration pulled $400 million in federal money and threatened billions more if it does not comply with its demands.

“There is a concern that if one university steps up and fights this then that university will have all of their funding cut,” said Veena Dubal, general counsel for the American Association of University Professors. “They are being hindered not just by fear but a real collective action problem. None of these universities wants to be the next example.”

Some colleges moved swiftly to stop working with The PhD Project.

The University of Kentucky said it severed ties with the nonprofit on Monday. The University of Wyoming said in a statement that its college of business was affiliated with the group to develop its graduate student pipeline, but it plans to discontinue its membership.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas issued a statement saying three professors participated in the program, but two no longer work at the university and a third was killed in a shooting on campus in 2023. Arizona State said its business school is not financially supporting The PhD Project this year and it told faculty in February the school would not support travel to the nonprofit’s conference.

Similar fallout came in Texas earlier this year, when Rufo began posting on X about the PhD Project.

“Texas A&M is sponsoring a trip to a DEI conference,” Rufo posted on Jan. 13. Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, accused the university of “supporting racial segregation and breaking the law.”

The next day Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbot posted on X that the university “president will soon be gone” unless he immediately “fixed” the matter. Texas A&M responded by withdrawing from the conference, and soon after at least eight other Texas public universities that had participated previously in The PhD Project’s conference also withdrew, the Texas Tribune reported.

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Rufo has not responded to a request for comment.

Some of the schools under investigation raised questions about where the complaints against them originated.

Montana State University said it follows all state and federal laws and was “surprised” by the notice it received and “unaware of any complaint made internally with regards to The PhD Project.”

Six other colleges are being investigated for awarding “impermissible race-based scholarships,” the Education Department said. Additionally, the University of Minnesota is being investigated for allegedly operating a program that segregates students on the basis of race.

At the University of California, Berkeley, hundreds gathered Wednesday on the campus known for student protests. But this one was organized by faculty, who stood on the steps of Sproul Hall, known as the birthplace of the free speech movement in the 1960s.

“This is a fight that can be summed up in five words: Academic freedom is under assault,” Ula Taylor, a professor of African American studies, said to the crowd.

In a campus email Monday, Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons did not specifically mention the investigation targeting his school. But he described the federal government’s actions against higher education as a threat to the school’s core values.

“A Berkeley without academic freedom, without freedom of inquiry, without freedom of expression is simply not Berkeley,” Lyons said. “We will stand up for Berkeley’s values and defend them to the very best of our ability.”

Associated Press writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.