Germany issues travel advice to US after arrest of its citizens

Germany updated its travel advisory for the United States to emphasize that visa waivers or entry waivers do not guarantee entry for its citizens, after several Germans were stopped at the border recently, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

The ministry updated its US travel advice website on Tuesday to clarify that neither approval through the US ESTA system nor a US visa grants entry in every case.

"The final decision on whether a person can enter the US rests with US border authorities," the spokesman said on Wednesday, the Telegraph reports.

However, the spokesperson stressed that the change does not constitute a travel warning.

Since taking office on January 20, President Donald Trump has announced a series of immigration-related executive orders that focus on stricter border policies, stricter visa vetting procedures and a crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Germany's Foreign Ministry said earlier this week it was monitoring whether there had been a change in US immigration policy after three citizens were arrested.

Two of the three cases have been resolved, with the affected citizens returned to Germany, while the remaining case is being handled with the assistance of the consulate general in Boston.

According to Boston-based public broadcaster WGBH, a German with a green card was stopped by immigration authorities this month at Boston airport and is being held in a detention facility. /Telegraph/