ICE brings into custody Czech woman who exploited non-immigrant visa system, caused disturbance on plane

Fourteen years after the coordinated terrorist attack on the United States that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 individuals on Sept. 11, 2001, the fact remains that the 9/11 terrorists had entered the United States with visas; five of whom had overstayed their visas, and thus, were in the U.S. illegally. The terrorists had used fraudulently obtained U.S. driver's licenses to board the airlines that they, ultimately, turned into weapons.

Even when an individual on an expired visa does not have terrorist or criminal intentions, he or she can be problematic, as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and others found to be the case with Zaneta Hucikova, 34, a Czech Republic national.

Hucikova applied for and received a non-immigrant tourist visa (B-2) to compete in modeling events in the United States. She entered the United States through Miami, Florida, on October 2, 2014 and was admitted until April 1, 2015.  In August, she was onboard a Condor Airlines flight with 249 other passengers bound from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Frankfurt, Germany, when she caused a disturbance.

Somewhere over the skies of Montana, the trouble started. Hucikova sneaked a cat onboard with her, and when flight attendants discovered it, they took the feline from her and placed it in the lavatory.  Hucikova became irate, attacked a flight attendant and was disruptive to the point where the pilot decided to land at the Denver International Airport.

The unscheduled landing was more than a simple diversion.  It required: two F-16 fighter jets from the Buckley Air Force Base as escorts; thousands of gallons of fuel dumped to lighten the plane's load on landing; mechanics to check the plane's suspension and sign off that the plane was safe for flight and hotel vouchers issued to each of the plane's passengers who needed to stay overnight during the flight's delay. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was called, as were special agents from ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) who interviewed Hucikova and determined that she had violated her tourist visa by overstaying her terms of admission.

Special Agents Patrick Sheridan and Michael Goodwin, both of HSI Denver, arrested Hucikova, processed her and took her into ICE custody.

As for Hucikova's cat, HSI special agents turned it over to the Denver Animal Control who agreed to hold the animal until Hucikova or her designee can retrieve it.

"They don't teach cat custody at FLETC," joked Special Agent Michael Goodwin, in reference to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center where newly-recruited federal law enforcement personnel undergo rigorous training.

"But in all seriousness," said Goodwin, "Hucikova's behavior caused a major inconvenience to the flight crew and her fellow passengers. She cost the American taxpayers a great expense with the need for U.S. military personnel and equipment, law enforcement time, detention and court costs."

Additionally, the German international airline, Condor Airlines, suffered extensive monetary damages.

At Hucikova's immigration hearing, Sept. 11, the immigration judge granted her a voluntary departure, and she left the United States Sept. 15, traveling from Atlanta to Brussels.

Visa overstays and other forms of nonimmigrant status violations bring together two critical areas of ICE's mission — national security and immigration enforcement. The Overstay Analysis Unit (OAU), housed within the National Security Investigations Division of HSI, provides timely, relevant and credible information on entry, exit and immigration overstay status.  OAU works in conjunction with the Counter-Terrorism Criminal Exploitation Unit (CTCEU) by providing overstay data on individuals who meet specific priority criteria, which is then sent out to field offices as investigative leads.