Students study at a library of Columbia University in New York, the United States. (Photo: Xinhua)

Two Chinese students who went to study in the United States recently said they suffered unfair treatment by U.S. border officials who questioned them roughly.

They shared their stories with CGTN anonymously and also complained that they had heard of frequent incidents of harassment and suppression of visiting Chinese students and scholars.

The students said they were asked whether they or their parents were members of the Communist Party and if they had been assigned tasks by the Chinese government before going to the U.S. They reported being repatriated for "unbelievable" reasons, such as one of them being suspected of having a military background because photos of college military training were found in their mobile phones.

One reported being interrogated for 20 hours, the other for 14. During that time, U.S. officers behaved rudely and neither was allowed to communicate with the outside world, they said, adding that one of the students was rudely reprimanded many times.

"Even during the break time, the U.S. officials turned on the lights all the time and sent two people to closely monitor me," one student recalled.