K-pop band sent home from LAX not sex worker suspects, just lacked work visas: report

Immigration official quoted as denying claim by agent for South Korean girl band Oh My Girl that they were apparently detained as suspected sex workers, instead saying they lacked performance visas for show

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Los Angeles airport immigration staff turned away K-pop band Oh My Girl not on suspicion they were sex workers but because they lacked performance visas for a concert, an immigration officer has been quoted as saying. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:45am, 14 Dec 2015Updated: 12:47pm, 14 Dec 2015

Members of a K-pop girl band detained at the Los Angeles airport and sent back to South Korea reportedly lacked the proper work visas.

The agency that represents the band Oh My Girl, WM Entertainment, said US immigration authorities suspected they might be sex workers after the eight performers were held at the Los Angeles airport for 15 hours on December 9.

That was not true, an official with the US Customs and Border Patrol was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times on Sunday.

On My Girl, who were denied entry to the United States.

Band members were seeking to enter under a programme that allows South Koreans to travel in the United States for up to 90 days without a visa, the official said. But when customs agents went through their luggage and found costumes and props it was clear that they had arrived to perform.

How SCMP readers reacted on Facebook to the story of Oh My Girl’s entry ban

Well this is awkward - Korean girl band Oh My Girl detained for 15 hours at Los Angeles airport after being mistaken for sex workers

Posted by South China Morning Post SCMP on Friday, 11 December 2015

The US agents denied the young women entry because they lacked the required performance visa.