They were a long-distance couple hoping to reunite for the holiday season.
An African man and an American woman who fell in love during a religious mission trip.
Nkosinathi Gama is a 29-year-old man from Eswatini, a country in southern Africa that was formerly known as Swaziland. Rachel Perkins is a 24-year-old seminarian student at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.
They thought everything would go smoothly. Why wouldn’t they?
Gama had his visa, a return ticket and a negative COVID-19 test. Plus, Gama had visited the U.S. last year without a problem.
The two first met when Perkins visited southern Africa on a missionary trip in 2018. She was studying to become an ordained minister, and he worked for the Lutheran Church in Eswatini. They quickly bonded over their love of God, Perkins said.
This year they wanted to spend the holidays together. Their love had lasted and fortified through a long-distance relationship, with almost 9,000 miles separating them.
Gama arrived in Chicago on Saturday, after two days of travel, hoping to see his girlfriend for the first time in roughly a year.
As Gama stood in the Customs line at O’Hare International Airport, Perkins waited anxiously with a friend and her parents on the other side of the wall. Minutes turned to hours as she waited for Gama to emerge with his smile that could “make anybody’s day better.”
But Gama was pulled aside by officers for a secondary inspection, in which an officer questioned him, searched his bags and scoured his phone, looking through his text messages and Facebook account.
During his questioning, which Gama described as an “interrogation,” he started to worry.
“I was really scared,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday. “I didn’t understand what was happening. Did I look like a (criminal)?”
It is unclear why Gama was pulled away for a secondary inspection.
“What prompted this interrogation of someone who’s looking to spend Thanksgiving with his girlfriend is beyond me, especially in light of the fact that he had spent two weeks with Rachel during Christmas 2019 and obeyed U.S. immigration law,” said Ashley Dworsky, an immigration attorney representing Perkins.
When asked about Gama’s case, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman sent a general statement outlining the responsibilities of the agency.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection is tasked with protecting our nation’s borders and enforcing numerous laws at U.S. ports of entry,” the statement said.
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“CBP has established strict guidelines to ensure that these searches are exercised judiciously, responsibly and consistent with the public trust.”
Customs agents inspect travelers’ electronic devices on “rare occasions,” but the agency’s ability to inspect electronic devices crossing the border is “integral to keeping America safe in an increasingly digital world,” the spokesman said.
The inspecting officer appeared to suspect Gama was not just visiting Perkins for the holiday, but also trying to marry Perkins and remain in the country, Gama said.
She questioned why he had brought his birth certificate and college diploma with him. Gama explained that he does not like to leave important documents at home when he travels for an extended period and wanted to show Perkins’ parents his college degree.
But Gama’s explanation was unsatisfactory for the inspecting officers.
Gama said he was then given the option to give up his visa willingly or be barred for five years. He opted to give up his visa. He was then placed on a flight headed back to southern Africa.
“It breaks my heart being separated from the one that you love,” Gama said. “I haven’t been in pain in my life like this. I wish they could know how much they break our hearts for what they did.”
Perkins hopes to visit Gama again soon in his home country, but she’s still heartbroken by what happened.
“I just wish that people understood that this happens every single day,” she said. Gama “did what he was supposed to do. He came here legally. He came with everything he was supposed to have, and it still wasn’t enough.”