Asian Girl Band Detained at LAX Because Officials Think They Must Be Sex Workers

12-14-15 California:

Members of the South Korean pop group "Oh My Girl" fall victim to U.S. sex-trafficking hysteria.

Hold onto your Fourth Amendment rights, folks, a new kind of racial profiling is coming to America. Because, really, why would a group of young Asian women come here if not to enter the sex trade? At least that seems to be the attitude of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, who detained the South Korean pop band Oh My Girl at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) last week on alleged suspicion that the young women were sex workers.

On December 9, the eight band members—in Los Angeles for a photo shoot and concert—were denied entry to LAX and held for 15 hours while officials questioned them, according to a statement from Oh My Girl's management. Eventually the band gave up and went back home.

From the statement:

The person in charge of customs asked Oh My Girl and the staff what relationship they had with each other, and one of the staff used the word 'sister' and a misunderstanding occurred. They thought it was strange that we were not blood related, but said that we were 'sisters'. And so they took extra attention to the large quantity of items and outfits we had. And since the members are young girls, they were mistaken as 'working women' (prostitutes) which the U.S. has a big issue with right now.

After the misunderstanding was resolved, we were sent back to the airport immigration office, and had communication with the airport staff, and our opinion was not straightened out. And in the previous step, our phones were seized and it was an extreme situation where we could not contact anyone outside. The company was detained for a long period of 15 hours, and we decided to go back to Korea because of the members who were tired physically and emotionally.

A lawyer in the U.S. is taking the effort to make sure the unjust treatment of being detained is valid or not. We sincerely apologize for causing anxiety and thank everyone who worried for us.

A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection initially told the Los Angeles Times that it could neither confirm nor deny the group’s story. But an unnamed Customs official later told the paper that the band's statement was false, and the real reason Oh My Girl was detained was because they were trying to travel as tourists, rather than with a performance visa.* Oh My Girl's management claim a performance visa shouldn't have been necessary because the band was participating in a mulit-performer promo event, not holding its own concert. ..Continued.. by Elizabeth Nolan Brown