The Land of Confusion

Things are different in Trump's America, especially for travelers. It looks like ICE and CPB alike are feeling newly empowered, although what they are supposed to be doing differently under the Trump Administration is still a bit blurry--but here are some things that simply don't seem alright at all that have happened lately:

Border Patrol Agents Stop Domestic Travelers at New York Airport  Now, CPB can explain that they were working with ICE to try to locate an individual asked to leave the country, but somehow, this sure looked to people caught up in it rather like they were being asked to sort out whether their "papers were in order". The law cited referred to persons or items arriving from outside the US--but this was a domestic flight. This really feels twisted, to me.

Deported With A Valid U.S. Visa, Jordanian Says Message Is 'You're Not Welcome'  This is not a good message to give to the world.

British Muslim teacher denied entry to US on school trip The last I checked, the UK is not part of the seven countries from which entry was supposed to be stopped, and this individual was not even a dual-citizenship holder. The only suspect thing was religion.  This is bigotry.

Australian children's author Mem Fox detained by US border control: 'I sobbed like a baby'  I have no explanation at all for why border control agents are harassing Australian children's authors. Had that call between Turnbull and Trump really been so rugged?

U.S. Nearly Deports French WWII Scholar en Route to Texas Symposium  I believe we could learn a lot from Henry Rousso, and see no reason why this scholar was suspect--except for being born in Egypt. Which accounts for what, exactly?

Muhammad Ali's son reportedly detained under Trump's travel ban: 'Where did you get your name from? Are you Muslim?'  This one is particularly shocking to me--the obvious answer to "Where did you get your name from?" when your name is "Muhammed Ali, Jr." is "My father," and this man's father was the most well-recognized American sports figure of all time! Also, this is someone who was born in Philadelphia and had a US passport--just like me! Except I'm a strawberry blonde with blue eyes and a last name that's is clearly ethnically Italian--stereotypically Catholic. This is racism.

Maybe things like these happened before and no one really concentrated on them because there wasn't the unifying stupidity of the Trump Administration's anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant intent. Given horrible stories we've had about TSA before Trump, I sort of wonder how TSA also might change for travelers. I'm headed for Italy in July with my citizen spouse and non-citizen, alien resident MIL.

I hope we are allowed back in.