President Donald Trump’s ill-conceived ban on visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries had a short shelf life because it failed to meet legal standards, but a growing number of travellers to the US report having been traumatised by overzealous border guards or being barred from entering. As horror stories emerge almost daily it’s hardly a surprise that America’s tourism industry is feeling the pain from what newspapers are dubbing “the Trump Slump.”
Flight bookings to the US are down by 6.7 percent and some pundits predict the sector could lose up to $3 billion (Dh11.02 billion) this year. Once the president’s finely-tuned new executive order is rolled out, the tourism industry is likely to feel a worse pinch.
An avalanche of anecdotal evidence that arriving passengers are routinely being told to hand over their smartphones and tablets before revealing passwords to their social media accounts is more than troubling. There are no civil protections or rights to privacy at US borders that are not legally considered to be on American soil. Passengers refusing to comply are denied entry.
This disturbing intrusive trend came under the spotlight when US-born scientist and Nasa engineer Sidd Bikkannavar took to Facebook to air his grievances. Following a short stay in Santiago, Chile, he flew back to Houston where for the first time ever he was detained by US Customs and Border Control agents who forced him to hand over his phone and PIN despite his protestations that the device was the property of Nasa and contained sensitive information.
Weakening security
Since, there have been numerous complaints from both Americans and non-Americans on similar lines prompting one lawmaker, Senator Ron Wyden, to write to the head of Homeland Security warning that “digital dragnet border search practices” are not only violations of privacy but also weaken national and economic security.
“If businesses fear that their data can be seized when employees cross the border, they may reduce nonessential employee international travel, or deploy technical countermeasures, like ‘burner’ laptops and mobile devices . . .” he wrote, while warning of his intention to introduce legislation to bring an end to such intrusive practices.
Assertions that border agents have been exceeding their mandate have come from unlikely quarters. Kjell Magne Bonevik, a former prime minister of Norway travelling on a diplomatic passport, was detained and questioned at Dulles Airport all because he had made a brief visit to Iran some years ago.
Australian author of children’s books, 70-year-old Mem Fox, says she may never visit the US again after being interrogated by immigration officials at Los Angeles Airport for two hours.
“I have never in my life been spoken to with such insolence, treated with such disdain, with so many insults and with so much gratuitous impoliteness,” she said, adding that the experience left her feeling physically assaulted so much so that upon arrival at her hotel, she collapsed and “sobbed like a baby.”
Mathematics teacher Juhel Miah, a British Muslim, was forcibly removed from a flight bound for New York by US officials while other teachers and schoolchildren in his party looked on in astonishment.
Empty assurances
The young man has no criminal record and believes he was singled out because of his religion. Labour MP Kevin Brennan told Parliament that Donald Trump was treating British teachers “like criminals” despite US government assurances that UK nationals/dual nationals have nothing to worry about.
Canadian citizen Fadwa Alaoui frequently crossed America’s northern border to visit her parents or spend a day out shopping until she was questioned about her religion by US border guards who examined her phone. They asked the name of the mosque she attended and details of its imam as well as his sermons. Upon finding Arabic prayer videos on her mobile, she was fingerprinted, photographed and denied entry.
As if humiliating foreign nationals isn’t bad enough, Muhammad Ali Jr, the 44-year-old son of the late boxing icon, returning from Jamaica with his mother, was detained for two hours at a Florida airport where he was repeatedly asked “Are you a Muslim?” and “Where did you get your name from?” The family is believed to be mulling filing a federal lawsuit citing border control’s use of profiling and discriminatory practices.
Publisher and Chief Executive of 89UP Mike Harris gives us this morsel in a column published in The Independent: “Your smart phone is the most dangerous thing you own—Don’t take it with you if you travel to America.”
Sound advice, maybe, but a phone-less passenger could raise suspicions in this day and age and border agents could still demand social media and email passwords. Better still would be to postpone nonessential travel to the US until a more welcoming climate prevails.
Linda S. Heard is an award-winning British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.
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Visiting the US? Prepare for interrogation!
Posted on February 28, 2017 by Linda S. Heard
President Donald Trump’s ill-conceived ban on visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries had a short shelf life because it failed to meet legal standards, but a growing number of travellers to the US report having been traumatised by overzealous border guards or being barred from entering. As horror stories emerge almost daily it’s hardly a surprise that America’s tourism industry is feeling the pain from what newspapers are dubbing “the Trump Slump.”
Flight bookings to the US are down by 6.7 percent and some pundits predict the sector could lose up to $3 billion (Dh11.02 billion) this year. Once the president’s finely-tuned new executive order is rolled out, the tourism industry is likely to feel a worse pinch.
An avalanche of anecdotal evidence that arriving passengers are routinely being told to hand over their smartphones and tablets before revealing passwords to their social media accounts is more than troubling. There are no civil protections or rights to privacy at US borders that are not legally considered to be on American soil. Passengers refusing to comply are denied entry.
This disturbing intrusive trend came under the spotlight when US-born scientist and Nasa engineer Sidd Bikkannavar took to Facebook to air his grievances. Following a short stay in Santiago, Chile, he flew back to Houston where for the first time ever he was detained by US Customs and Border Control agents who forced him to hand over his phone and PIN despite his protestations that the device was the property of Nasa and contained sensitive information.
Weakening security
Since, there have been numerous complaints from both Americans and non-Americans on similar lines prompting one lawmaker, Senator Ron Wyden, to write to the head of Homeland Security warning that “digital dragnet border search practices” are not only violations of privacy but also weaken national and economic security.
“If businesses fear that their data can be seized when employees cross the border, they may reduce nonessential employee international travel, or deploy technical countermeasures, like ‘burner’ laptops and mobile devices . . .” he wrote, while warning of his intention to introduce legislation to bring an end to such intrusive practices.
Assertions that border agents have been exceeding their mandate have come from unlikely quarters. Kjell Magne Bonevik, a former prime minister of Norway travelling on a diplomatic passport, was detained and questioned at Dulles Airport all because he had made a brief visit to Iran some years ago.
Australian author of children’s books, 70-year-old Mem Fox, says she may never visit the US again after being interrogated by immigration officials at Los Angeles Airport for two hours.
“I have never in my life been spoken to with such insolence, treated with such disdain, with so many insults and with so much gratuitous impoliteness,” she said, adding that the experience left her feeling physically assaulted so much so that upon arrival at her hotel, she collapsed and “sobbed like a baby.”
Mathematics teacher Juhel Miah, a British Muslim, was forcibly removed from a flight bound for New York by US officials while other teachers and schoolchildren in his party looked on in astonishment.
Empty assurances
The young man has no criminal record and believes he was singled out because of his religion. Labour MP Kevin Brennan told Parliament that Donald Trump was treating British teachers “like criminals” despite US government assurances that UK nationals/dual nationals have nothing to worry about.
Canadian citizen Fadwa Alaoui frequently crossed America’s northern border to visit her parents or spend a day out shopping until she was questioned about her religion by US border guards who examined her phone. They asked the name of the mosque she attended and details of its imam as well as his sermons. Upon finding Arabic prayer videos on her mobile, she was fingerprinted, photographed and denied entry.
As if humiliating foreign nationals isn’t bad enough, Muhammad Ali Jr, the 44-year-old son of the late boxing icon, returning from Jamaica with his mother, was detained for two hours at a Florida airport where he was repeatedly asked “Are you a Muslim?” and “Where did you get your name from?” The family is believed to be mulling filing a federal lawsuit citing border control’s use of profiling and discriminatory practices.
Publisher and Chief Executive of 89UP Mike Harris gives us this morsel in a column published in The Independent: “Your smart phone is the most dangerous thing you own—Don’t take it with you if you travel to America.”
Sound advice, maybe, but a phone-less passenger could raise suspicions in this day and age and border agents could still demand social media and email passwords. Better still would be to postpone nonessential travel to the US until a more welcoming climate prevails.
Linda S. Heard is an award-winning British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.