Live data from Hacker News

Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

axios.com

561–570 of 613 posts

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#561

Countries all over the world are issuing US travel warnings. If there's an error or mistake on your visa you risk being detained by ICE for weeks on end or even end up in the Gulag in El Salvador. For European visitors, they can see the fascism miles away. A lot of Europe was occupied by Hitler while the US wasn't. The extraordinary claim that Musk's salute wasn't a Nazi salute is mind boggling. Even when people have…

I haven't actually seen any travel warnings published by other nation states (yet). Do you have a source?

Finland Ministry for Foreign Affairs has this section on their "Traveling to United States" page (Google translated):

Current affairs

When traveling to the United States, it is important to note that a valid ESTA or visa does not necessarily entitle you to enter the United States. Overstaying your stay or providing incorrect information about the purpose of your stay may result in arrest or deportation.

The United States has also issued an executive order (25 STATE 11402) on February 24, 2025, according to which applicants for a US ESTA or visa must in future indicate their gender as either “male” or “female”. According to the order, applicants must indicate their gender as determined at birth in their application.

If the applicant’s current gender as recorded in their passport differs from their gender as determined at birth, the US authorities may refuse entry. It is recommended to check the entry requirements in advance with the US authorities.

There is no gender marking X in the Finnish passport. If, for example, a dual citizen has a passport with an X marking, the entry requirements can be checked in advance with the US authorities.

Political demonstrations may occur in major cities, which may turn violent. Avoid large gatherings or demonstrations.

Edit: source https://um.fi/matkustustiedote/-/c/US

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#562

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For some EU perspective > Serbia is not part of the EU > Racial profiling is everywhere. Also in the EU.

Not exactly entirely outside[1] the EU either though, having applied for membership in 2009 and receiving full candidacy status in 2012. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Serbia_to_the_Eur...

It is entirely outside of the EU until it's a member country. Serbia doesn't have any special status like Switzerland or Norway that are closer to the EU even if they are not members, and anyway the leadership of Serbia is currently closer to Russia than to the EU.

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#563
post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Do you live in a cave? The current US president, obviously.

They are all over this thread either legitimately insane or clearly operating in bad faith. Flag and move on.

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#564

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They used the term detained, but "secondary inspection" would also describe it. I was there maybe 40 minutes.

I've been in secondary, but didn't have it described to me that way. I would not call it detainment without clarifying it because I associate that word with incarceration, but I am also reluctant to travel knowing the odds of that happening again are up.

They were quite clear that I wasn't allowed to leave and I wasn't allowed to use my phone. I'm not sure where a debate about semantics would have gotten me.

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#565

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren’t a lot of jails private and for profit? Just bill the tourist for the stay and detain until they pay in full (accruing even more debt in the meantime). It makes perfect business sense which is all that seems to matter to the US nowadays.

>Aren’t a lot of jails private and for profit? No, it's a small-ish minority of them. Most are government owned and run. That said, there's a huge incentive to piss away money holding people so you can justify your budget and use poor conditions to justify increases in budget. And on top of that the contractors that supply government jails are pretty evil too. So it's really a distinction without a difference at the…

[deleted]

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#566
A lot of US undocumented immigration is not people jumping the US-Mexico border but instead people from India, the Middle East, and China intentionally overstaying their Visas. Obviously they don't want to come during an administration that is hard on immigration.

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#567

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that seeing the Fox spin on US events would persuade many people that the US is currently a place of rationality and the rule of law.

Doesn't the crime rate go down when Republicans hold the power? I think the crime rate is a major concern for every tourist. Doesn't Florida have a much lower crime rate than California? As a tourist, I rather visit Florida than California.

> Doesn't the crime rate go down when Republicans hold the power?

Federally? There's no reason to think the federal government changing hands would impact local crime rates. Overall violent crime has seen steady decline from the 1970s to the present day. [1] That period has seen both Democratic and Republican administrations.

At the state level it's a different picture. 8 of the top 10, and 17 of the top 25 states for homicide rate are "red" states.[2] I think poverty and per-capita income rates in a state are a better predictor of crime rates than which party is specifically in power.

> Doesn't Florida have a much lower crime rate than California?

If you consume exclusively right-wing news media (or your favorite social media ragebait) you'd have that impression. Depending on your source they're either about equal (FBI stats) over the past 2 decades or Florida's murder rate is higher (CDC).[2] Either way it is not "much lower". For "much" lower I'd go to states like Massachusetts, Utah, or Hawaii which have murder rates closer to Western Europe.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States#Cri...

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#568

> And I rolled it over 30 days to be able to show any recent changes while not getting lost in the noise of daily change. small thing, but learned at work that often there's a weekly pattern (and I'd bet there is for airplane travel) so you ought use a rolling 7 day average instead of 30 because there are different numbers of weekends in each day's 30 day number. This is why there's a slight zigzag in the line charts…

One fun one is that in a lot of year on year change reporting for China specifically, Jan-Feb is considered a single month and then all the other 10 months are seperate. Reason is:

[spoiler]

*

*

*

*

*

The dates of Chinese New Year move around across the year and they have such a big effect on the stats that it's easier just to lump the two months together.

[/spoiler]

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#569
post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Americans do not understand how much press there is outside the US about tourists from Ireland / Germany / Canada getting locked up in ICE jails for weeks on end. From my point of view, if POTUS blathers about annexing Canada, then the US doesn't deserve my tourist dollars, neither my Netflix subscription, neither my Amazon prime subscription. I've cut back on purchases/subscriptions from US companies as much as it…

Same here. There's one or two things I can't bear to cancel, but I've moved all my email from Google Workspaces to Proton, cancelled Netflix, cancelled plans to go to DEF CON, downgraded storage for Apple iCloud to just above what I need instead of way above, cancelled plans to get a new MacBook Pro this year, stopped buying groceries from companies with American owners, etc.

What I respect most about the European countries' leving tarrifs in response is when they're choosing to issue tarrifs on products that are heavily sourced from red states, and lesserly so from blue states.

Re: Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March

#570
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

^ this. Once (oh, actually twice!) while travelling, I have had entirely benign trouble with paperwork (things like not filling a form correctly on the first attempt). Explaining the circumstances to someone who has to figure out if you're scatter-brained, unlucky, or an actual criminal, isn't particularly fun, but it's been entirely professional and civilised. We resolved it all in about half an hour. Didn't even mi…

So you genuinely think that if you go to the US you have a high risk of being imprisoned without due process even if you you don't break any US law?

Shit, I'm a US citizen flying domestic while colored and I have that fear. If you don't think that's reasonable, you're not paying attention. It's not hyperbole to say that ICE is the new Gestapo, and because international airports are considered borders and thus they have jurisdiction, they cover most of where I'd want to go to or transit through in the US.
Post reply on HN