The founder of New York design gallery Chamber has described the "dehumanising and degrading" ordeal of being turned away by US border patrol when he arrived in the country last week.
Juan Garcia Mosqueda ? originally from Argentina but a legal US resident for the past 10 years ? spoke about his experience in a letter to friends and colleagues, titled The Visible Wall.
The gallery founder and curator was denied entry into the US on 24 February 2017, when he was interrogated under oath and eventually forced onto a flight back to Buenos Aires 14 hours later.
During this time, Garcia Mosqueda was denied access to legal counsel, deprived of food and kept under surveillance while he went to the bathroom.
"The procedure was dehumanising and degrading every step of the way," he wrote. "This 36-hour nightmare is nothing but clear evidence of a deeply flawed immigration system in the United States, carried out by an administration that is more interested in expelling people than admitting them." Garcia Mosqueda studied in the US and has worked for various companies in the country. He opened Chamber in New York's Chelsea neighbourhood in September 2014. He will not be able to attend the gallery's next show opening, which is on Thursday.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, travel into the US by non-citizens has been limited and immigration rules have been tightened.
The president is attempting to enforce restrictions preventing citiz...