The Trump thought police
This sort of viewpoint discrimination is a sign of weakness. Only a feeble nation would interrogate travelers this way.
“An Australian man who was detained upon arrival at Los Angeles airport and deported back to Melbourne says United States border officials told him it was due to his writing on pro-Palestine protests by university students.
“Alistair Kitchen said he left Melbourne on Thursday bound for New York and was detained for 12 hours and interrogated by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials during the stopover in Los Angeles.
“The 33-year-old said he was “clearly targeted for politically motivated reasons” and said officials spent more than 30 minutes questioning him about his views on Israel and Palestine including his “thoughts on Hamas”.
“Kitchen said officials asked him for his “thoughts about the conflict in a very broad sense”, including about student protesters, what Israel “should have done differently” and “how I would resolve the conflict”.
So now to enter the US, you have to pretend you’re the Secretary of State? Seriously?
Thought police at the US border
“An Australian man who was detained upon arrival at Los Angeles airport and deported back to Melbourne says United States border officials told him it was due to his writing on pro-Palestine protests by university students.
“Alistair Kitchen said he left Melbourne on Thursday bound for New York and was detained for 12 hours and interrogated by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials during the stopover in Los Angeles.
“The 33-year-old said he was “clearly targeted for politically motivated reasons” and said officials spent more than 30 minutes questioning him about his views on Israel and Palestine including his “thoughts on Hamas”.
“Kitchen said officials asked him for his “thoughts about the conflict in a very broad sense”, including about student protesters, what Israel “should have done differently” and “how I would resolve the conflict”.
So now to enter the US, you have to pretend you’re the Secretary of State? Seriously?
Thought police at the US border
Joel:
That is definitely BS. I have not seen such happen with overseas visitors coming to the US for business meetings. Mostly, they were coming from Asia. They were never asked about other countries and neither was I upon my return from time consuming overseas trips.
Israel is its own nation and not a part of the US. Sounds like a non sequitur. Coming to the United States does not include questions about other countries.
@Bill,
“Coming to the United States does not include questions about other countries.”
In Trump’s America, it does.
Joel:
That was kind of my point. The only thing they were asked was purpose, which of course was a business meeting. And if asked which company? Yazaki NA or Marquardt.
I just did not explain it enough.
@Bill,
Years ago, I was on my way to Burnaby BC to give a talk and serve as an external on a dissertation committee. The Canadian customs officer asked the purpose of my visit. When I told him, he then asked if I would be paid. When I acknowledged that I’d get a small honorarium, he pulled me out of line. It took about an hour to convince them that I didn’t need a work permit. Or else I may have told them that I’d decline the honorarium, I don’t recall. But they didn’t deport me.
What they didn’t do is ask me the subject of my talk or the dissertation, or my political views.
Joel:
Similar happened to me. I worked in upstate NY and lived north of Detroit. So every once and a while I would come home and work in the Michigan office for a week. Onetime they sent me to the office and they asked me a bunch of questions. They were mystified I would travel so far. An hour later I was on my way. I gave up passing through Canada to Buffalo and just went the longer way, south of the lakes.