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

I flew from Montreal (Trudeau ) to Charlotte last September. Landed and walked straight out with no customs. Only showed my passport to one guy in a booth at Trudeau. Is that different now?
 
Right now green card holders with no crimes are beign loaded into unlabeled cars by men wearing masks. It's not too far off to believe that it can/will happen to citizens. I mean I am the equivalent of a green card holder in Canada. If the mounties started doing that, I would be freaking the fuck out.
Where did you see that story?
 
Where did you see that story?
 

Yes, border control can go through your phone. Here's what travelers should know.​


“… According to Heubel, the officers are checking to ensure the claim you're making about who you are and your visa status are true, so if you're on a tourist visa but there's suspicion that you may be working while in the U.S. From a national security perspective, they're also seeing if there is any criminal data or activity on your devices.

However, recent cases have brought to light that public activity relating to free speech, like social media posts on political issues, are now being subject to searches and subsequent visa issues.

"In some ways, they might be, but there's also another rule where if you show any indication that your conduct could be contrary to the interests of the United States in terms of security and foreign policy, a lot of this is sort of being mixed together right now," Heubel said. …”

 
Related for immigration purposes (and allegedly part of search of devices for non-citizens entering the USA):


IMG_6397.jpeg
 
You're not going to get busted for having anti-Trump vitriol on your social media.

The immigration check for US passports at airports is very light. They're more concerned if you're bring back stuff from a farm.
 
You're not going to get busted for having anti-Trump vitriol on your social media.

The immigration check for US passports at airports is very light. They're more concerned if you're bring back stuff from a farm.
This is true in April 2025. It will not necessarily continue to be true going forward.

Americans are weakest when they are at a border crossing. Most people are often in a hurry to get home after a trip because of pre-existing commitments (not a specifically American thing). They are tired. They don't have ready access to lawyers should they need one. These border checks take place in isolated rooms, and then people get hauled to holding cells that are invisible to others at the airport. Warrants aren't necessary. If you want to attack people's rights, the border is the best place to do it, and lots of people will just roll over in the hopes of getting on with their lives.

And if you're going to want to hit liberals and not conservatives, targeting international travel is a pretty decent way to do it. Depending on the travel route, of course. Plus, people tend to broadcast a lot about themselves when travelling, in my opinion. I don't think it's too hard to pick out the liberals and conservatives as people disembark.
 
The Beaverton is the Onion of Canada


US campaign entices Canada tourists: “Come visit America and also maybe El Salvador!”​

 
Australian academics are not only cancelling trips to the US for key conferences. Scholarships are being rescinded and grant funding pulled as the fallout from the Trump administration’s interference continues.

It follows media reports of travellers having their devices searched at the US border and being denied entry, including a French scientist who had messages on his phone critical of Donald Trump.

Before this Trump administration, US visa applicants were required to declare if they had a disability. But Smart said she began to hear accounts of people being stopped and “detained or denied” on the basis of their condition.

“They are doing things like checking if your medication matches your declared disability,” she said. “If it doesn’t, they can deny you entry.

“As an openly disabled person, I would be very hesitant to be entering right now. If the conference hadn’t switched online, I wouldn’t have taken the risk.”

In a statement uploaded to its website in late January, the Society for Social Studies of Science said it was aware that US border control was “unpredictable”.

“We … will be watching events closely in the coming months to make sure that we are supporting international attendees to the greatest possible extent,” organisers said. “Attendees are also encouraged to consult their own countries’ travel advice.”

Australia’s National Tertiary Education Union said it had received multiple reports from members that US policy shifts have caused academics to cancel travel, while others have had planned research partnerships terminated with little explanation.

...

Before this Trump administration, US visa applicants were required to declare if they had a disability. But Smart said she began to hear accounts of people being stopped and “detained or denied” on the basis of their condition.

“They are doing things like checking if your medication matches your declared disability,” she said. “If it doesn’t, they can deny you entry.

“As an openly disabled person, I would be very hesitant to be entering right now. If the conference hadn’t switched online, I wouldn’t have taken the risk.”
 
This is true in April 2025. It will not necessarily continue to be true going forward.

Americans are weakest when they are at a border crossing. Most people are often in a hurry to get home after a trip because of pre-existing commitments (not a specifically American thing). They are tired. They don't have ready access to lawyers should they need one. These border checks take place in isolated rooms, and then people get hauled to holding cells that are invisible to others at the airport. Warrants aren't necessary. If you want to attack people's rights, the border is the best place to do it, and lots of people will just roll over in the hopes of getting on with their lives.

And if you're going to want to hit liberals and not conservatives, targeting international travel is a pretty decent way to do it. Depending on the travel route, of course. Plus, people tend to broadcast a lot about themselves when travelling, in my opinion. I don't think it's too hard to pick out the liberals and conservatives as people disembark.
Not gonna happen. They can’t scale it. There probably will continue to be scattered stories of harassment, but checking out citizens’ phones is not going to become a thing.
 
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