Unsafe for foreigners (or well anyone) to travel to US catchall thread

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Just to add a tiny bit to my recent experience, I was shocked at how automated customs has become for US passport holders. At least for travel between the US and Mexico. It was actually much harder to get into the Bahamas than into Mexico. I’m sure it varies by country and it’s probably more complicated if you’re declaring something, but it couldn’t have been easier for me, and that was a bit of a surprise.
 
superrific said:
Probably best to wipe out anything Guatemala related, which I doubt is possible for you given how closely your life seems to be intertwined with that country and its people.

But as lawtig said, you're almost certainly safe. Just don't do anything that might get anyone's attention. Please, thank you, yessir, look straight ahead in line, etc. But you know that, probably way way better than I do.
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He’s a white male citizen. He’ll be fine and cross the border easily without incident or scrutiny.
 

How U.S. Tourists Are Dealing With a New Animosity Overseas​

Travel agents and travelers share their playbook for overseas visits in the face of antipathy toward the U.S.​


🎁—> https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/trave...3?st=wNezpF&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

“… After recent U.S. strikes in Iran, the State Department issued a travel alert that advised of “the potential for demonstrations against U.S. citizens and interests abroad.” Over half of Americans reported they felt that U.S. travelers would be less welcome in other countries as a result of the Trump administration’s trade policies, according to a survey conducted in April by travel marketing firm MMGY Global.

“They are aware America doesn’t look the best on the world stage right now with threats of tariffs and visas being denied,” said Heather Grodin, a travel planner associated with MEI-Travel. A State Department representative didn’t respond to a request for further comment.

… Some of the animosity Americans could encounter traveling this summer might be a reflection of attitudes toward overtourism rather than specific anti-U.S. sentiment. …”
 
dukeman92 said:
I wish the IOC would pull the Olympics and that FIFA would remove the World Cup. We clearly do not deserve to celebrate these things with the rest of the world.
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Those organizations are famous for doing the right thing…

They’re probably more excited now that trump is just openly welcoming corruption, where these orgs really shine.
 
Well, as an American I have chosen to not visit other countries. That’s fine with me. At one point I was like Twice removed from a high level Homeland security dude. He said I should think twice before going to any other country.
 
JosephFreeman said:
Well, as an American I have chosen to not visit other countries. That’s fine with me. At one point I was like Twice removed from a high level Homeland security dude. He said I should think twice before going to any other country.
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He warned you against visiting any other country? When was this and how paranoid of a man was he?
 
www.nzz.ch

Swiss woman is denied entry at the US border and detained

«You have no right to be here.» A teacher wanted to celebrate her birthday in New York. Instead, she was jailed in New Jersey before being deported. A lawyer warns that something similar could happen to almost anyone.
www.nzz.ch www.nzz.ch

Lara arrived in New York on April 9 at 4 p.m. local time. The border guard asked the usual routine questions about how long she would be staying in the U.S. and where she planned to stay. But instead of letting her proceed into the city, he said, «Follow this gentleman.»

Lara spent six hours in a room with other travelers who had also been «flagged,» the term for those selected by border officials for further questioning. Lara is 38 years old. She studied in the U.S. for several years on a student visa. She also worked there with the appropriate authorization and paid taxes. She has only been living in Switzerland again since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She visits her longtime friends in New York several times a year and obtains her travel authorization via ESTA.

The officials wanted to know why she travels to the U.S. so often. Because she loves New York and many of her friends live there, Lara replied. Then the officers demanded access to Lara's smartphone. «I had to give them access to all my social media accounts and my online banking account,» she says. «Then they disappeared for about an hour with my cellphone.»

«You're lying»​

Because Lara not only works at a school in Switzerland, but also gives online language courses and counts Americans among her customers, the border officials were convinced that she wanted to work during her stay in the U.S.

The fact that Lara was carrying souvenirs, such as German books and Swiss chocolate, had her laptop and had arranged to meet some of her online students for coffee in New York reinforced the border officials' suspicions. When Lara insisted that she did not want to work during her vacation, the officials always responded with the same statement: «You're lying.»

«Then they threatened me: Either I officially say in the interrogation that I came to New York to work, or they will send me to prison,» Lara says, adding that the situation intimidated her. «But I still said: That's not right. If you treat me like this, I will need a lawyer, and I must be given the opportunity to contact the Swiss Embassy. Their response was: You have no right to be here. You are not an American citizen.»

At around 10 p.m., she was allowed to call an American friend of her parents with whom she is so close that she calls her «aunt.» The aunt informed Lara's friends in New York and her family in Switzerland what was happening. At 11:30 p.m., Lara received official notification that she would not be allowed to enter the United States.

However, instead of being put back on the next flight to Switzerland, Lara was placed on a chair anchored to the floor and secured to it with a leg restraint. She waited like this for two hours, not knowing what would happen next. Then she was taken to a small room and subjected to a full-body search. In addition to the ankle restraint she was put in handcuffs and a chain was put around her waist. «That was the first time I cried,» Lara says.

...

«I find it problematic that Switzerland does not take a clearer stance on arbitrary deprivation of liberty and violations of the fundamental rights of its citizens,» says lawyer Pascal Ronc. In Lara's case, he sees arbitrariness and a violation of fundamental freedoms and rights. «She was deprived of her liberty and human dignity on the basis of vague suspicions about her possible future behavior. No breach of law could be alleged or proven against her,» says Ronc. Searching smartphones and laptops is also a serious invasion of privacy and may therefore be classified similarly to a house search.
 
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altmin said:
www.nzz.ch

Swiss woman is denied entry at the US border and detained

«You have no right to be here.» A teacher wanted to celebrate her birthday in New York. Instead, she was jailed in New Jersey before being deported. A lawyer warns that something similar could happen to almost anyone.
www.nzz.ch www.nzz.ch
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Then they sent American taxpayers a 2000 dollar bill for her 1 night stay.

Every morning a CCA private prison employee counts the empty beds and calls ICE/TSA and says "bring me 4" or" bring me 7".

Absolutely deplorable.
 
A prominent school leader in Winooski and United States citizen is speaking out after he spent hours in Border Patrol custody after returning to the country from a visit to Nicaragua.

“You feel like you’ve been abducted by a gang of aggressive, violent people who are trying to manipulate you and who are lying to you, and while you are being abducted, you know that these people are capable of doing anything to you because they don’t care," said Wilmer Chavarria.


That's how the Winooski School District superintendent described what he called an "abusive" and "bizarre" interrogation he endured at the Houston Port of Entry at the George Bush Airport Monday night.

...
Chavarria, a naturalized U.S. citizen who is originally from Nicaragua, said he and his husband, Cyrus Dundgeon, were returning from a trip to visit his family. Those family members had been living with him in Vermont under temporary protected status, but out of fear of deportation, they recently returned to their home country of Nicaragua.

Despite both being U.S. citizens and having Global Entry, at customs, Chavarria said he was told to go to a different section than his husband, before being escorted to a Customs and Border Protection holding room without being given a reason.

“Every time we attempted to ask, we were met with aggressive nos and very intimidating and aggressive verbal abuse on their part whenever we wanted to ask for answers," Chavarria said.

Moments after being brought into CBP, Chavarria said he was met with an unidentified woman calling him into another room.

“I asked whether I was being detained, and she said 'You’re not being detained,'" Chavarria said. "I said, 'Then can I go?' And she said, 'No, you may not go.'"

...

Meanwhile, during those hours, Chavarria said he was told he had no rights while being threatened and questioned by at least five interrogators.

"When four of them were in front of me, standing while they had me sitting down, they said that I do not have rights, that my constitutional rights don't matter at a port of entry and that I should stop talking about rights," Chavarria said.

When Chavarria asked to make a phone call, he was told "'No, we're not going to do that, give us a phone number,'" he said. "I said let me access my phone so I can give you a phone number, and they said 'No, just tell us, why won't you tell us?' But like, people don't just memorize their contact list."

During the interrogation, Chavarria said the unidentified individuals attempted to threaten and manipulate him into giving them access to his professional devices, containing information about students in the Winooski District.

“I was threatened with being referred to the FBI, the FBI was mentioned multiple times," he said. "They also threatened to stain my record so I would never get a job again. They also threatened with an extended detention if I didn’t give them the passwords to the student information or to my district files."

Yet, after five hours and never giving up his students' information, Chavarria said he was finally released, at which point he said a plainclothes officer "shook [his] hand and said that he admired [Chavarria's] resilience and the fact that [he] was protecting student information."
 
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