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Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

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Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#61

Post by iamtew »

Taniwha wrote: post #46
kyrra wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was at his local airport in Sweden. To quote some tweets: "They denied me entry on ESTA with no explanation. Already at check-in in Sweden. =( or rather instead of check-in" "I only got to the airport locally. My passport was flagged somehow so the airline wouldn't let me check in, called to ask why... So they say" Edit: ESTA is this: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/ So the DHS denied him for some reason.

but when you apply for an ESTA you get told you've been 'approved' - you use this as a basis for booking a flight and travelling, if they're going to take it back without telling you (they have your email address) that really sucks, kind of passive aggressive

They don't seem to do the check when you apply. Years ago I fat-fingered my passport number, the ESTA went through fine, but I was refused at the airport due to my typo.

I had to make a new one on the spot, was no problem, but it seems that they will just approve the ESTA when applying for it, and then later refuse you if they want.

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#62

Post by thecopy »

ckastner wrote: post #57

What puzzles me is that the ESTA application was approved in the first place. If they were going to deny him entry, why approve it? Could there be a more benign explanation for this issue? For example: his ESTA approval expired (it's valid for two years), or the data entered on the ESTA form did not exactly match his passport data (special characters, middle names, etc.)

>why approve it?

It is automatic, there is no human oversight to it as far as i know.

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#63

Post by GreaterFool »

Recently EU parliament voted to introduce visas for US citizens due to unequal treatment of EU countries. "About fing time", I though. Few months pass and I read that EU Commission will do nothing*. I hate those bureaucrats in the EU.

EU should retaliate (not of malice, just to force equal treatment). It's not a visa waiver if you can be denied entry so easily, as many people are. And of course not all EU countries are eligible.

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#64

Post by humanrebar »

y0ghur7_xxx wrote: post #40

This may be unpopular on an US-centric site like HN, but the US looks more and more like they want to isolate themselves from the rest of the world: very strict immigration policy, travelers molested by TSA on airports, ... These conferences where people around the world meet should start to be hosted somewhere else. Not in the USA anymore. Somewhere in a country that welcomes people instead of treating all of them l…

> This may be unpopular on an US-centric site like HN, but the US looks more and more like they want to isolate themselves from the rest of the world: very strict immigration policy, travelers molested by TSA on airports, ...

Almost all Americans think this sort of thing is nonsense. But the average American has little standing to hold the American bureaucracy accountable for its nonsense.

Americans, especially outside overcrowded urban areas, are courteous, helpful, hospitable people that are very tolerant of other people and ideas.

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#65

Post by hmans »

MotokoCMDR wrote: post #52

Absolutely no trouble at US airports. YMMV. Staff at JFK were professional, friendly and fast. This person may not have realized an ESTA needed in advance. He could be doing the thing people often do where they screw something up, and then, irresponsibly give a vague explanation, that they can deny later, but that leaves open to interpretation the possibility that they were somehow unfairly treated, when it might hav…

"It's never happened to me, so it must be that guy's fault!"

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#66

Post by DamonHD »

raverbashing wrote: post #19
TekMol wrote: post #4

My feeling is that I read stories like these pretty often. That somebody was denied entry or arrested or humiliated while entering the USA. Is this because it happens more often in the USA then in other countries? Or is there some kind of reporting bias at play?

It's a bias (not sure how it's called, maybe a type of "survivor bias") You don't hear about the thousands admitted without an issue in the US every day. But of course those that aren't admitted show up here May I also note some (tech people) display an increased level of naiveté in dealing with border people.

But you also don't hear from the people who decided not even to try to go to the US, and thus didn't get refused either. That's me since over a decade ago: the US doesn't get my tourist dollars, and gets fewer of my business dollars, as a consequence.

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#67

Post by oblio »

y0ghur7_xxx wrote: post #40

This may be unpopular on an US-centric site like HN, but the US looks more and more like they want to isolate themselves from the rest of the world: very strict immigration policy, travelers molested by TSA on airports, ... These conferences where people around the world meet should start to be hosted somewhere else. Not in the USA anymore. Somewhere in a country that welcomes people instead of treating all of them l…

The US has generally been quite isolationist.

Both before WW1 and before WW2 there were really strong isolationist currents in US politics. I think that it's part of the "Chine syndrome": they're big, kind of isolated and mostly self-sufficient (or perceive themselves to be so).

People seem to have forgotten that the US opening during and after WW2 turned the US into the world's #1 super power. I guess it's hard to look farther ahead when you have pressing issues straight in front of you (immigrants "stealing jobs" and such).

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#68

Post by qume »

Just to balance the narrative here a bit, I have traveled into and out of the US many times per year for around 15 years with no problems on an ESTA. I only recently switched to a visa.

After a long flight having to deal with the delay and hassle of immigration seems much worse than it is. I really hate it, and the comments here suggest others do too, but if you look at what we have to deal with objectively it's not really that horrible.

It feels weird for me to be defending them, because of the crappy experiences over the years, but when it comes down to it I think CBP are far more reasonable than they are given credit for because of the crappy environment it happens in. If you were calmly asked the same questions by a sweet guy or girl on a chaise longue while being offered champagne and strawberries, people would have almost no problem even though it's really the same thing without the elevated stress level.

Regarding Daniel - like others here I'm sure it's because cURL has been used extensively for bad purposes he was kicked off the ESTA program. Yes it sucks that they didn't let him know in advance, and they didn't have the smarts to figure that he had nothing to do with the bad actors.

For me getting a visa was a pretty easy process. The interviewer in my country was a smart political science graduate and everything went smoothly. An inconvenience for sure, but hey this is another sovereign nation, why should us foreigners expect to be able to march in without playing by their rules, even if we don't agree with them.

Don't get me wrong - this situation sucks for Daniel and US immigration has massive room for improvement.

Re: Author of cURL denied entry to the USA

#69

Post by mrleiter »

He himself says that he does not know the reason why. It could be because of his involvement in cURL, it could be a mix-up, it could be any reason, really. As long as there is no official statement or any other formal reason, this all remains speculative and consequently unfit for solid arguments against the US immigration policy in this specific case.

Disclaimer: I am a European citizen and by no means in favor of recent immigration policy changes of the US.

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