Your tax dollars at work
“When Jonathan returned from the US to Australia for a two-day trip to scatter his sister’s ashes, he packed only two changes of clothes, leaving enough space in his small bag to carry the empty ashes urn to his home in the US. The trip was so brief he didn’t even pack a laptop charger.
“The Australian says he was detained and deported when returning from the memorial in March, despite holding a working visa still valid for more than 15 months. He has been living on the US east coast for seven years – where his American partner, apartment, work studio and clients remain.
“Jonathan, who spoke on the condition his real name was not disclosed, says he is now couch surfing in Sydney, separated from his “whole life”.”
*snip*
“He says things “seemed really fucking weird” but he was careful to remain “overly polite”. He says when he asked the officer to repeat a comment he hadn’t heard, the man replied: “Are you deaf or just retarded?”
“He says that over a series of short interviews amounting to about half an hour, the official told him his visa had been cancelled and that he was banned from entering the US for five years, including as a transit passenger. He was told he would be placed on a flight to Australia and was handed a document informing him that he was an “immigrant not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa” as required by the Immigration and Nationality Act. He says he felt he had no choice but to sign the document, which Guardian Australia has seen.
“He says the official then told him: “Trump is back in town; we’re doing things the way we should have always been doing them.”
“Jonathan says he was told he could ask to speak to the man’s boss, who, he was warned, usually “didn’t have much to say”. He says the boss pointed to the official and told Jonathan: “Whatever he said.”
“He says he was given a space blanket, meals of “what tasted like dog food” and later swapped notes with other bewildered travellers, some of whom had not left the room for two days.”
This makes me ashamed to be an American. If you’re an American, it should make you ashamed, too. It’s being done in your name.
Trump immigration barbarism
“The Australian says he was detained and deported when returning from the memorial in March, despite holding a working visa still valid for more than 15 months. He has been living on the US east coast for seven years – where his American partner, apartment, work studio and clients remain.
“Jonathan, who spoke on the condition his real name was not disclosed, says he is now couch surfing in Sydney, separated from his “whole life”.”
*snip*
“He says things “seemed really fucking weird” but he was careful to remain “overly polite”. He says when he asked the officer to repeat a comment he hadn’t heard, the man replied: “Are you deaf or just retarded?”
“He says that over a series of short interviews amounting to about half an hour, the official told him his visa had been cancelled and that he was banned from entering the US for five years, including as a transit passenger. He was told he would be placed on a flight to Australia and was handed a document informing him that he was an “immigrant not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa” as required by the Immigration and Nationality Act. He says he felt he had no choice but to sign the document, which Guardian Australia has seen.
“He says the official then told him: “Trump is back in town; we’re doing things the way we should have always been doing them.”
“Jonathan says he was told he could ask to speak to the man’s boss, who, he was warned, usually “didn’t have much to say”. He says the boss pointed to the official and told Jonathan: “Whatever he said.”
“He says he was given a space blanket, meals of “what tasted like dog food” and later swapped notes with other bewildered travellers, some of whom had not left the room for two days.”
This makes me ashamed to be an American. If you’re an American, it should make you ashamed, too. It’s being done in your name.
Trump immigration barbarism
Joel:
I would not travel any time soon overseas as you may experience similar treatment in a foreign country even if you can speak their language.
I have always been treated with respect during my numerous and lengthy travels. Since we had a brief time period between flights in Asia, an airline person met us in arrival-customs and walked us through customs explaining we had little time to make the next flight.
This probably would not have happened in the US for them. It did happen in their country for us.
I have been known to speak up when I watched something I thought to be overly aggressive and just plain wrong.