A very stupid situation.
No doubt the yanks would stick her in Guantanamo if they thought they could get away with it.
American paranoia has always made talking to immigration officers or security people a bit of a joke. Anyone who has ever filled in a visa waiver form knows exactly what I'm talking about.
Q1. Are you coming to the United States for the purpose of:
a: terrorism?
b: homicide?
or
c: genocide?
Q2. Are you a member of the Communist Party?
Q3. Are you a polygamist?
Q4. During the period 1939-1945, were you or any members of your family, friends or associates of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany?
I mean, come on, most people from the rest of the world could not help but find this sort of ludacrous questioning at least faintly idiotic.
It only serves to create the wrong reaction when people arrive in the country, and disillusion people who up until reading the form probably had more respect for the genuine security problems that America is suffering from.
BUT... and this is the point.
When in someone elses country, you simply have to act in an appropriate way, regardless of what you happen to think about human nature and the way you believe people ought to treat each other.
If you don't like the way a certain country works then DON'T GO THERE.
Humour is inappropriate in certain situations. Unfortunately, people often resort to it when they are nervous.
Another thing is for sure, locking up some girl from England who made a silly mistake with what she said at the wrong time will not in any way reduce terrorism in America. It is THEY who are missing the point here as well.