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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

#171

Post by AReallyGoodName »

jccc wrote: post #60
lawless123 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True ,but we sure as hell know Trump publicly endorses it. Obama wasn't a lightning rod for this. Trump has made himself one.

And that's had a direct effect on the attitude and behavior of immigration goons: "[...] the shift — and the new enthusiasm that has come with it — seems to have encouraged pro-Trump political comments and banter that struck the officials as brazen or gung-ho, like remarks about their jobs becoming 'fun.' Those who take less of a hard line on unauthorized immigrants feel silenced, the officials said." https://www.nyt…

This combined with the fact that they now demand access to your facebook account on entry means I'm scared to post anti trump comments online. I need to travel between my birth country and my new home in the USA regularly. If I get a pro-trump homeland security agent (and it seems many of them are) scanning my phone. I fear I might be denied re-entry despite having a valid work visa.

I guess we'll be seeing more and more of this in the near future. I and other non citizens are now silenced. A few more laws like this to silence a few other anti-trmup groups and the USA will slowly creep into totalitarianism for fear of losing everything they have.

I'm just glad my birth country is Australia and I can happily return there before it gets really bad in the USA. The biggest problem I'm having is where shall I draw the line where I pack up my life here and return.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#172

Post by molmalo »

monodeldiablo wrote: post #67
fowlerpower wrote: post #58

The article gives me anxiety. It gives me anxiety that people can be held at our borders for hours and sometimes days (in my country non the less). All because some junior border officer did not understand the visa type well enough. How can they not even apologize? How can they not even acknowledge these types of errors. Will they do this to us when we travel abroad on a tourist visa?

Will other countries begin to reciprocate? Will other countries/institutions begin demanding compensation for wrongful detention/deportations? Perhaps my biggest concern is this: How long until this pushes someone over the edge? It's precisely this kind of persistent harassment that can convince an angry, disaffected young man that, yes, the system really is rigged against him.

At least Brazil did.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#173

Post by throwaway2048 »

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.

The EU is the EU, europe already has a definition, trying to conflate it with the European Union for ideological reasons is stupid.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#174

Post by desireco42 »

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…

Thank you for sharing this, it is useful to know what they might ask in such interview.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#175

Post by davidgerard »

Icedcool wrote: post #133
coldcode wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do not come to the US for any reason. Also, request that your government treat all US visitors exactly the same as this. Until people start to see how awful treating people like trash is nothing will change, it will only get worse. My job depends (somewhat) on foreign tourists coming to the US, I would rather lose my job than read these embarrassing stories.

More ill will and poor behavior doesn't result in things getting better.

Neither does lying down and taking it, oddly enough.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#176

Post by 49para »

xutopia wrote: post #152

I realize this is exceptional but I've spoken to a few Canadian friends who aren't bothering to visit the USA anymore. Avid travellers and hikes a lot of them are going to spend more time within their country and Europe during this presidency. The simple idea that we might have to give our social media passwords is revolting more than a few... this story just adds to this feeling.

Do they even need your social media passwords ?

The companies like FB give up your data freely anyway. That's assuming the NSA doesn't already have it anyway.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#177

Post by ng12 »

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.

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

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#178

Post by leesalminen »

CDRdude wrote: post #101
ethbro wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is, for better or worse, a populist decision. I'd be all in favor of other countries holding up any Americans coming through on a tourist visa. Maybe if enough of their friends gripe about the way they're being treated overseas, Trump country will think "Oh, it's really not a very nice way to treat people." (To say nothing of ineffective)

I think there is very little overlap between international travelers and Trump supporters.

Well that's a silly statement.

Re: How a French scholar was treated at US airport

#180

Post by dmode »

People are naive if they think this has nothing to do with Trump. I know friends and relatives whose visa applications are now being routinely denied for no reason. The executive branch provides guidance on how to implement laws that are pretty vague. So they have wide discretion and control over the behavior of the border agent. Let's face it, the tough guy border agent is a mall cop. Once you tell him that your priority right now is to do "extreme vetting" of foreigners they are going to step over their boundaries. This is only the start of such stories and there will be more to come. Yesterday I read that a computer scientist from Nigeria was similarly detained and asked to write code. There is an excellent NYT story about how ICE has been empowered to make wide arrests and I am pretty sure they are routinely violating civil rights and Constitution every day now
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