90 day visa waiver period ends
On this date, Torben’s 90-day visa waiver period was set to expire, meaning he would normally have been required to leave the country.
However, because he had already initiated an asylum process and received an I-797 notice, he was legally permitted to remain in the United States while his case was pending. This meant he was not overstaying his visa under U.S. immigration procedures.
Despite this, authorities later attempted to accuse him of overstaying.
A document obtained while in detention uses the term “overstay,” which appears incorrect given that Torben filed for asylum in a timely manner and has documentation supporting this.
This claim—that Torben remained in the country without authorization and therefore overstayed his visa—was later addressed by Clay Higgins, who serves on the House Committee on Homeland Security. In his remarks, he stated that Torben entered the United States legally and properly applied for asylum, yet was still arrested, with authorities later pointing to an alleged visa overstay as the basis.
It is important to note that Torben was not informed of any “overstay” at the time of his arrest. When he was detained at a meeting in Orlando, he was told it was due to alleged weapon smuggling—nothing was said about overstaying at that time. This inconsistency raises serious questions about the true reason for his arrest. Based on the documentation, Torben and his team believe that the overstay explanation was later introduced as a justification for the arrest when questions began to arise.
While authorities claimed the arrest was due to overstaying, Higgins made it clear—after his office had reviewed the documentation—that this explanation did not match the facts, and instead pointed to what he described as a case of persecution because he was a Christian minister.
