Indian-origin YouTuber MrWhoseTheBoss Detained, Strip-Searched By US Officials; How Does This Incident Affect Indian-Origin Travelers In the US?
New Delhi : London-based Indian-origin YouTuber Arun Rupesh Maini, popularly known by his YouTube persona, MrWhoseTheBoss, has revealed that he was detained, strip-searched and deported to the UK by US border authorities. Dexerto, the British-Indian creator, who has over 22.5 million subscribers and is known for his tech review videos, said he had travelled to the United States after receiving a $300,000 offer to cover the construction of a high-tech stadium project.
According to Maini, border officials at the US airport he landed at questioned him about the purpose of his visit before taking him aside for additional screening. “They said, ‘What are you here for?’ and then, ‘Come this way,'” he recalled, describing the moment he realised he would not be allowed to proceed normally through immigration. Maini said officers confiscated his phone and placed him in a back room, leaving him unable to contact the sponsors who were waiting for him outside the airport.
Cut off from his family and colleagues during the detention, he said he felt completely isolated. I had no ability to contact anyone. Family had no idea where I was. I remember just feeling inhuman. After spending around 26 hours in detention, Maini said he was deported from the US without being allowed to complete the assignment. According to him, authorities only returned his phone after the deportation flight had already taken off, allowing him to finally contact his family.
The revelations prompted an outpouring of support and outrage in the comments section of the interview uploaded on Dexerto’s YouTube channel, with many viewers describing the experience as traumatic and dehumanising. Others said the account overshadowed the rest of the interview. “I like how most of the video is chill and then there is the US customs part,” one person wrote, while another said, “Reached the video’s end and I am still thinking about his story of interrogation in USA”.
