The Sydney Morning Herald, January 21, 2004:

Australian music guru Ian “Molly” Meldrum has laughed off a visa bungle which saw him handcuffed, detained and deported from the US.

Meldrum returned to Melbourne today after he was detained by immigration officials at Los Angeles airport for 12 hours before being put on the next plane home.

The latest in a string of Australian journalists refused entry for having the wrong or no visa since a major crackdown on border security by US authorities …

Landing back at Melbourne Airport today, Meldrum put the bungle down to ticking the wrong box on his visa waiver entry form.

He said he didn’t have an I-visa, enabling him to work in America, but didn’t think he needed one …

Meldrum said the ordeal was surreal and scary, but he saw the humour in his predicament.

“I got handcuffed – (it’s) research if I have to do a story on Michael Jackson, I guess,” he said.

“I have a sense of humour and I saw the funny side of it.

”(I thought) `it’s one of those things that can only happen to you, Molly’, and this one did.”

Yassmin Abdel Magied, Twitter, yesterday:

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