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How a French scholar was treated at US airport

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Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#191

Post by wvenable »

devmunchies wrote: post #95
wazoox wrote: post #70

I just decided not to go to the US this year. I should have this April but really, I don't feel like it anymore.

These are practices that have been going on for a few years. Everybody is thinking this is a new Trump-era thing, which is not true. It is large scale confirmation bias. Making life decisions (not visiting the US) based off a knee-jerk reaction from reading a huffpo article is not helping. I understand that for foreigners to see trump sworn into office and then all of these stories pop up would make them think americ…

I agree. But supporting what the US has become over the last decade isn't any better -- the fact that these issues are getting more attention now should not diminish that reality.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#192

Post by strictnein »

NoirDesir wrote: post #126
cr1895 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it most definitely is part of Europe, and it is currently still part of the European Union too.

Member of the European Union, not member of the Schengen Area... UK has always been whimsical and not reflecting the "European" values... thus, UK is not Europe. They're free to run things the way they like, but please don't keep telling that UK is Europe... especially after they chose and got the Brexit... not a single true european will endorse its mistakes.

> "not a single true european will endorse its mistakes"

But how will a true Scotsman feel about it?

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#193

Post by timeu »

rhapsodic wrote: post #153
timeu wrote: post #104

Something along these lines (although by far not that bad) happened to me when I traveled to NYC for vacation of New Years Eve 2016/2017(this was before Trump took office). At the border control I was asked to follow the officer and wait in a room. I was waiting with a couple of other people but most people there were only waiting because of small formalities with their passports and they could leave after a couple o…

> Something along these lines (although by far not that bad) happened to me when I traveled to NYC for vacation of New Years Eve 2016/2017(this was before Trump took office). Incidents like this have probably happened hundreds of thousands of times throughout history, at customs checkpoints for many different countries. But now that Donald Trump is the president of the United States, a certain percentage of the ones…

I still think that it became "worse" over time although and that's started to happen way before Trump.

I February 2002 I traveled to NYC and back then I had a glaring visa stamp from Iran on the first page of my passport. At the border control the officer asked me about that visa and why I had it. I told him that I was visiting relatives and he was satisfied with that answer. Approx. 2 years ago I was traveling to Boston and then had another check at the border and this time I was asked some basic questions (where I go, what my purpose of visit, etc) for 10 minutes in a separate room. The last visit to NYC in 2016 was a thorough 40 minute of questioning. So in my experience it definitely got "worse"

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#194

Post by ng12 »

jacquesm wrote: post #179
ng12 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would never in my life read the word Europe and think of the EU first.

And when you hear 'America' you never think of the USA either?

The two are not equivalent. America is shorthand for the United States of. Mexico is short for Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Europe is a geographically defined continent.

If I were in Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Serbia, Macedonia, or the Ukraine would it not be appropriate to say I was in Europe?

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#195

Post by cr1895 »

jacquesm wrote: post #179
ng12 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would never in my life read the word Europe and think of the EU first.

And when you hear 'America' you never think of the USA either?

Consider that the only country within the North/Central/South American land masses explicitly having America as part of its name is the United States of America. It makes a lot of sense really considering the global dominance of the USA relative to its neighbors that "America" is colloquially understood to refer to the USA, and not Canada, or Panama, or all of South America.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#196

Post by strictnein »

taneliv wrote: post #188
Beltiras wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes from the state of border control and not just this one. CBP is doing industrial espionage with their phone data seizures. I'm avoiding US conferences because of it where I have options elsewhere. I imagine many are doing the same. I probably have to bite the bullet this fall and go to San Fransisco for a conference. I won't be carrying any electronic devices for that trip as a security precaution that CBP asks me…

I consulted for a large non-US technology company, which enforced a policy of sending people to the US with wiped out laptops, and imaged at the destination with their standard software. That was more than 10 years ago.

Waste of effort. The US has never been into the industrial espionage game at the government level.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#197

Post by cr1895 »

jacquesm wrote: post #159
throwaway2048 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the soviet union and eastern block were europe too, stop creating absurd distinctions.

Europe -> the EU, not Europe, the landmass.

So is Europe -> Eurozone? Is EU -> Eurozone? Is Schengen -> EU?

These are all quite clearly defined. Some (many?) may think that the EU is the same as Europe, but this is plainly false.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#198

Post by strictnein »

DanBC wrote: post #120
dboreham wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd think. The culture in the US just seems to tolerate too much of this "Show me your papers!" attitude imho. Source: I grew up in the UK where you (still) don't need to carry a drivers license. Meanwhile in the USA where I'm now a citizen I get a cold sweat if I forget my wallet when I take a 10 minute drive to buy some milk in case I'm pulled over by the cops..

> I grew up in the UK where you (still) don't need to carry a drivers license. There's a convenient arrangement, but strictly speaking you commit an offence if you don't, when asked, give your driving licence. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/part/VII/crosshe... This is an important difference between US and UK. We have bad laws and they're not often used. The US has bad laws and they're used all the time.

I've been pulled over without my license in the US. Nothing happened. I've also had no proof of insurance. I just had to provide within a specified time period. No big deal.

Lots of US law enforcement experts from overseas on the Interwebs these days.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#199

Post by cr1895 »

jacquesm wrote: post #158
cr1895 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it most definitely is part of Europe, and it is currently still part of the European Union too.

The UK is a pain for Europeans to get into. It's trying very hard to be USA light when it comes to immigration.

This has everything to do with the UK not being in the Schengen area, and nothing to do with it being in the EU or Europe at large.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#200

Post by peteretep »

jacquesm wrote: post #185
peteretep wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With an EU passport, one uses the same queues as Brits to get into the country.

Yes, and it takes forever. At least it did the last time I came to the UK (Dec 2015). The line started well into the hallway, a hundred meters or so before the counter.

So you think it's a pain for Europeans to get into the UK because they're treated like UK citizens.
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