How do you view Coverage of Norwegian woman who overstayed in the US and got taken into Ice custody

37 comments

1. We can take her and her husband back. No worries 🙂

2. It’s her own fault.

   “Everyone” in Norway knows that you shouldn’t overstay your visa in the US.

   The problem Norwegians have is that we are never held accountable for anything. There’s always an excuse or something to explain away everything. 
   This mentality is reflected in her. 

   She broke the law, she overstayed her visa for 87 days and then waited 3 months. 

   I have very little sympathy. 

3. “– Before the interview, everyone said: “You are blonde, you are white, you have blue eyes. You have nothing to fear.” My story shows that they go after everyone, says Engan. ”

   Maybe Europeans need to stop thinking this is their free pass? I remember there were German students among the first taken in by this policy and they said the same thing.

4. It’s very Norwegian. The rules exist and must be followed by everyone. However, nuances always appear to exist when someone Norwegian is involved. The good thing is that it helps people to understand that there are nuances, the bad thing is that the hypocrisy is rife, and people are quite oblivious to their hypocrisy.

5. How I see it is relatively simple. Don’t wanna be a criminal don’t do crime. How crime is enforced in another country is none of my business.

6. Overstaying your visa will give you huge problems in Schengen as well.

7. Deporting her for having an expired visa would be fair enough.

   ICE seem to be completely out of control with how they enforce things though. Non-violent people who are in the process of renewing their paperwork, trying to correct mistakes and attending court hearings getting dragged away by SWAT style teams seem excessively provocative. Ultimately her case doesn’t seem to be the most egregious one though, the people getting dragged off the street and whisked away to unrelated 3. county on a different continent without due process, now that’s crazy.

8. I don’t think the overstayed visa lead was buried during coverage.

   When the story first broke on live national news, it was definitely mentioned.

   It’s also mentioned in the article you link, but TV2 isn’t considered the most objective news source.

   The latest [NRK article](https://www.nrk.no/urix/hanne-bredal-engan-forlater-fengselet-i-usa_-blitt-loslatt-mot-kausjon-1.17667517) literally has «overstayed visa» as a bold text ~~headline~~ paragraph header.

9. She knowingly broke the law as a guest in another country and faced the consequences

10. While it’s her own fault per se, this only triggers my US is regarded knee-jerk response.

11. Beats what they do if you are a minority sent to CEROT Trump camps.

12. I view it through Reddit comments.

    How do you view it?

13. «I thought that it wasn’t going to be a problem cause I’m white, blond and have blue eyes» her words that sums up the entire situation perfectly.

14. Actually is there two stories here:

    1 One about how she had overstayed her visa

    2 And one about the blatant power abuse from the ICE

15. Why are people so dumb today? Dont overstay! Its really not difficult.

16. What a spoiled bitch. Norwegian media should have been harsher and portrayed her as the fake floozy she is. I highly doubt she has diabetes as she managed to survive 6 days without insulin or proper food.

17. Fafo

18. Would.

19. She was clearly in the wrong and that has been mentioned through the coverage, so a reaction/arrest is deserved.

    The focus has mainly been on it being a response she feels is exaggerated and claims from her side.

    >The reporter was talking about how Trump said he wanted Norwegian immigrants

    He wants immigrants from the western world with higher education that can go straight to work and contribute, understandable in itself when they have somewhat of a shortage/need for it.

    The problem is that those people tend to dislike the US and not want to go to the US with how its ran atm.
    And the skilled tech workers they want are also in a shortage where they are atm.

20. I think most got the impression that this was one silly girl. Overstaying your Visma in the US, in these circumstances. Also, staying in the US at all when you can go home is just weird. But she found love, so I guess … love makes blind.

21. The part most seem completely oblivious to, is that overstaying your visa while waiting for a new one or a green card has been a common practice that no one gave a shit about for decades. Not to mention that the punishment for overstaying your visa for up to 180 days (so twice as long as she had) is simply being told to leave the country and apply for a new one.
    That she’s Norwegian is largely irrelevant, outside of the irony of Trump&co specifically saying they want Norwegian immigrants.

    The simple truth is that she followed the norm, and likely received absolutely no advice to act differently. She even outright told the immigration office that she had overstayed. And if they’d actually considered it a violation worthy of action, they would have taken it long before she voluntarily walked into their office.
    Was she naive as hell? Absolutely! Given the current state in the US (which you’d have to be a complete moron to miss), she should have taken care of it long before it expired.
    Did it warrant the treatment she received? No.

    Honestly, it’s hardly newsworthy. If she wasn’t Norwegian, she’d probably be no more than a footnote in one of the many articles about other immigrants being treated the same.

22. Well, as a person who has been in a similar situation in Norway, I believe that my response isn’t based on her getting or not getting a Visa. Because overstaying your visa in Schengen doesn’t normally Lead you to jail time. It gets you expelled from the country.

    I believe the reaction here is based on her being taken to an ICE facility, not given her medication, and kept from contacting a lawyer or family. That would not happen here.

    So my reaction is mostly due to her poor treatment, not the fact that they don’t want her in the US.

23. If That is the US way, it should be the same for all. Even if they don’t come from «shithole countrys»

24. I work in immigration and a personal pet peeve of mine is how media never challenges the statement “I haven’t done anything criminal” when they have been staying illegally. Have seen it both for Norwegians abroad and immigrants in Norway

25. Her fault.

26. She broke the law, I don’t have sympathy for her

27. She broke the law, no need to cry to the media about it. If we want those standards in Norway we need to acknowledge those that have them in other countries too

28. For those (including OP) who claim it’s her own fault for overstaying her visa:

    https://www.boundless.com/immigration-resources/visa-overstay-forgiveness-explained

    «If you’re a visa holder and you remain in the United States past the “admit until date” listed on your Form I-94 (also called the “Arrival/Departure Record”), you are overstaying your visa. If this happens, you can get visa overstay forgiveness by applying for a waiver. To do this, you will need to show that you have valid reasons for remaining.»

    This was from an article published in March 2025. It’s not the only one with similar advice.

    The rules may not have changed, but the Government practices and enforcement have changed.

    Visa overstays have been quite common and generally accepted by «everyone» as a solvable problem, with the main risk that you have to leave the U.S. and may have to wait a while for a return.

29. This is why I dont travel to third world countries!

30. I have no quarrel with the fact that she broke the law, but the way ICE acted after they apprehended her was not right.

    If the problem was her staying in the country illegally, expel her. There’s no need to put her in a facility and deny her necessary medication. Those are the tactics of power tripping bullies trying to instill terror.

31. Norwegian here.

    I would never overstay my VISA in any foreign nation, unless I ended up really sick right before flying back and had to recover first. But that woman was 90 days overdue and there was no excuse.

    I don’t understand why she thinks she deserves special treatment. It’s embarrassing for her.

32. What she did doesn’t really matter, no one deserves to be treated the way ICE is treating people. Breaking the law shouldn’t result in inhumane treatment. THAT is the story.

    Worrying about how much/little they are mentioning what she did to get there just shows that you think there’s a point at which it becomes relevant context for how they are treating her.

33. I dont really give a shit.

    She overstayed her visa and is SHOCKED she is treated as an illegal.

    Her (poc) husband seems to be very wealthy too, which adds a class element to the whole thing, i.e. ‘how dare they treat her like a proletarian!’

34. Never heard about her

35. Don’t care, but f the US either way

36. I think its entirely fair that if you break the law you get arrested. I have never had any special treatment so honestly it pisses me off when I see others get special treatment. Fair is fair, follow the law or take the consequences, and don’t cry about it.

    «Hvis du vil leke leken, må du tåle steken» as we say.

37. I haven’t read a lot about it. I read that she overstayed her visa, which in my mind is, well, that’s on her, why didn’t she just leave when she didn’t have it? I also heard that they postponed some hearings until after it had expired or something, no clue if that’s the same woman or some other though, and I dunno if I read that article myself.

    I either case, I’ve never been put in a situation where I’d need to stay as long as a visa would be even close to expire, so I wouldn’t know the dilemmas that you can get put in. To me, visa is not something I would consider breaking.

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