Some follow up on my post from last week about the tourists and business travellers detained by ICE. First, Rebecca Burke, the British cartoonist who was detained for three weeks when a border patrol agent found out she was doing chores for people in exchange for lodging has been repatriated. Next, Jasmine Mooney, the Canadian woman held for two weeks in multiple locations, is also home. Ms. Mooney has written a column for the Guardian detailing her experience. Her account is worth reading. Obviously, there are harrowing details about the detention, like this:
Our next stop was Arizona, the San Luis Regional Detention Center. The transfer process lasted 24 hours, a sleepless, grueling ordeal. This time, men were transported with us. Roughly 50 of us were crammed into a prison bus for the next five hours, packed together – women in the front, men in the back. We were bound in chains that wrapped tightly around our waists, with our cuffed hands secured to our bodies and shackles restraining our feet, forcing every movement into a slow, clinking struggle.
When we arrived at our next destination, we were forced to go through the entire intake process all over again, with medical exams, fingerprinting – and pregnancy tests; they lined us up in a filthy cell, squatting over a communal toilet, holding Dixie cups of urine while the nurse dropped pregnancy tests in each of our cups. It was disgusting.
But what is really remarkable is how Mooney keeps reiterating and illustrating her concern for people being held by ICE who aren’t as lucky as she was, and how she puts a finger directly on the throbbing pustule that is the privatised prison system:
ICE detention isn’t just a bureaucratic nightmare. It’s a business. These facilities are privately owned and run for profit.
Companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group receive government funding based on the number of people they detain, which is why they lobby for stricter immigration policies. It’s a lucrative business: CoreCivic made over $560m from ICE contracts in a single year. In 2024, GEO Group made more than $763m from ICE contracts.
The more detainees, the more money they make. It stands to reason that these companies have no incentive to release people quickly. What I had experienced was finally starting to make sense.
This is not just my story. It is the story of thousands and thousands of people still trapped in a system that profits from their suffering. I am writing in the hope that someone out there – someone with the power to change any of this – can help do something.
There is also a new concern: CBP appears to be searching at least some people’s phones.
There were numerous reports earlier this week about a French scientist traveling to a conference in Houston. He was pulled aside for extra security screening and then denied entry. Allegedly, the issue was that the scientist had sent messages critical of the Trump administration’s action toward scientists and universities—allegations apparently credible enough that a French government minister discussed them with the press. The US refutes that, and claims this scientist was denied entry because he had “classified information” from a US lab on his phone. But if that was the case, why not arrest him?
These issues are a much bigger story on this side of the water than they seem to have been on the US side, not least because the UK and Germany have both issued new travel warnings for citizens headed to the US. Here is the relevant new wording from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO):
You should comply with all entry, visa and other conditions of entry. The authorities in the US set and enforce entry rules strictly. You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules.
There is also this further down the page, which, yikes:
The US authorities can stop you entering the country if they have safeguarding concerns about a child. If this happens, the US authorities will take the child into their care, and their return from the US could take months. The FCDO cannot speed up the return of British nationals aged 17 and under from the US.
Obviously, this is all bad for US tourism businesses—one industry research firm revised its 2025 outlook from 8.8% growth in foreign tourism to a 5.5% decline, and warned that those numbers were likely to be revised downward again, as they only take into account data through February. I’m aware of at least three people who have cancelled planned, booked travel to the US because of this news. It’s getting to the point where some of them are concerned for me. British folks have always asked me if I feel safe traveling to the US, because of the gun situation, but now when they ask it has a dark new shade of meaning. They know I don’t like the president.
I just tell them I haven’t booked my summer travel yet. Which is true.
Open thread, but I’m interested to hear from commenters if this is a live issue in their circles—I’m sure it is for other expats or for people who work with lots of international colleagues in business or academia.
Sad News to Share about commenter evap
kindness
Canada is a lovely summer trip. I’ve done BC a couple times and loved it.
hells littlest angel
Time for some of our alllies to start expelling diplomatic personnel. Canada, declare the American ambassador persona non grata and send him back here on a prison bus. Don’t worry — we’ll understand.
Melancholy Jaques
This business will get out of control. It will get out of control & we’ll be lucky to live through it.
Rose Judson
@hells littlest angel: Ed Davey, leader of the UK’s Liberal Democrats, has been loudly demanding that the PM summon the US Ambassador ever since last summer, when Musk started saying the UK government should be overthrown and amplifying racist voices on X. I wish someone would listen to Sir Ed.
Steve LaBonne
@Melancholy Jaques: I’m starting to feel like I may be unlucky if I live through it.
Another Scott
My J and her twin are planning a trip to Spain in a few months. So far, they’re acting like leisure travel for Americans hasn’t changed. And maybe it hasn’t. But, it’s hard to imagine that “elbows up” isn’t going to become more of the norm for Americans outside the country. Understandably…
Grr…
Good luck with your “new” home, Rose!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
Trump is out of control and immune from normal political pressures. So I wouldn’t risk a visit if I could avoid it.
JML
The cruelty is the point with these people. Absolute lunacy.
I expect they’ll start pulling sh!t on “undesirable” americans returning from overseas soon. criminals, the lot of them.
JoyceH
Remember during the campaign when Trump railed against illegal immigration? His surrogates would say fine to come in legally, it’s just the illegal entries they’re against. Well, Trump has just revoked the status of HALF A MILLION legal residents. What exactly is he trying to accomplish?
Rose Judson
@Another Scott: Thanks! I am repainting the front door later this week when the weather will be dry, and then getting quotes to redo the gravel driveway.
Gloria DryGarden
@hells littlest angel: it’s sad. It’s desperately painful.
and,I agree.
give ‘‘em an inch they’ll take a mile. Please apply this adage where appropriate, all ye nations.
again, sad. Sigh.
RevRick
While I am not personally acquainted with the travails of foreign travelers, I live in a city with a large Hispanic population, and I wonder when ICE will start their predations here. It’s only a matter of time. Reading how badly they are treating people who are not members of disfavored groups, I shudder to think how these Brownshirts will abuse those they hold in utter contempt. Because these are not just scuzzy companies involved. They hire brutes.
Chetan Murthy
(1) American citizens are not exempt from this sort of search. They used to say during Trump 1 that “the border is a rights-free zone”.
(2) During Trump I, this was happening — and it was also laptops/tablets. The advice given by a large Internet company was that if your device is searched, then don’t turn it on, call this #, we’ll give you instructions on how to mail it to someplace where it will be crushed. B/c the -assumption- is that it will have had some sort of bug of logger installed, at least in the firmware, maybe in hardware.
(3) I know people whose rule was to power down their devices on arrival in the US. the idea being they cannot ask you to surrender your password, though they might be able to ask you to use your fingerprint.
(4) I know others who powerwash their devices on landing. And one who has spoken of getting a second phone for international travel, so that he can plan on destroying it if it is searched.
I bought a fancy new laptop (first time in 10yr) in December. My idea was I’d take it with me on my travels. Now? nah, I’ll take the ol’ Chromebook for two reasons:
(a) $600 (depreciated over 1.5yr), not $2500 (new)
(b) I can powerwash that sucker on arrival and then reinstall it in the airport after I clear customs.
ETA: The EFF put out a guide: https://www.eff.org/document/eff-border-search-pocket-guide
Geminid
From Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC):
And Ankara-based Clash Report posted some Dutch news a few days ago:
It seems like the hazards of entering the U.S. will encourage international scientist in all fields to seek work elsewhere.
schrodingers_cat
@Chetan Murthy: What does powerwash mean?
I was thinking of getting a Google phone for international anyway since my current phone is a brick internationally in the absence of WiFi. So that should be good. Will keep my regular phone at home while traveling.
Melancholy Jaques
@Steve LaBonne:
Riffing off an earlier thread, you have to live through it. We’re gonna need you for the repair & restoration.
schrodingers_cat
OT tech question: Has anyone here used OBS studio. What is your go to software for simultaneous screen and webcam recording. Preferably free, or low cost and not subscription based.
Chetan Murthy
@schrodingers_cat: Powerwash means to restore the phone to factory defaults — including wiping any data you have on the device. Phones/tablets/chromebooks all make that easy. On a fancy Windows/Linux laptop, not so easy.
trollhattan
Guess this goes hand in glove with firing Interior staff, including National Park and Forest rangers. “Don’t come to Yellowstone, nobody is working.”
Will attest Yosemite Valleyt in peak season is like being in a major international airport terminal–USians might be a plurality of visitors but definitely not in the majority.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Most people know that ICE has been very active here in the Denver metro area.
One thing that didn’t hit national news from Wed-Thu was the fact that two detainees escaped during a power outage at an ICE-run detention facility in Aurora.
The kicker? It’s a for-profit prison. ICE immediately tried to throw the Aurora pohleeece under the bus saying they were notified and refused to help.
The Aurora police chief later in the day held a press conference and in very polite language explained the timeline and that the for-profit prison people didn’t notify the APD until 4.5 hours *after* the escape has occurred. He then outlined the MOUs they have with ICE, are always ready to assist, etc.
He basically called them lying sacks of shit.
For-profit detention facilities, Privatization!, for hoovering up brown people. Wonderful way to avoid accountability on the off chance any pesky accountability makes it in the public eye.
eclare
@trollhattan:
Any time I’ve been to a national park out west (Big Bend, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon) international tourists have outnumbered Americans. This was especially true for Big Bend, which is odd because it’s not easy to get there.
Steve LaBonne
I’m sure the mofos have access to all our Facebook accounts and mine is full of anti-Trump stuff. Guess it’s a good thing I have no plans to travel outside the US any time soon.
Rose Judson
@Chetan Murthy: Thanks for sharing that guide!
Professor Bigfoot
I mentioned Mrs. B’s oncologist, who has to go home to India to look after her ill mom; and I am terrified for her.
She’s the best; and like I said before, I KNOW FOR A FACT that she has MANY, MANY cancer patients in our little city who will all suffer if she gets detained.
I’m worried, and I’m mad as hell that I have to worry.
A Ghost to Most
@Steve LaBonne: We instituted a no social media policy in 2005. That always paid dividends. Even more so now.
Professor Bigfoot
@Melancholy Jaques: “I recognize that reference.”
And I completely concur.
Timill
@Chetan Murthy: Current Windows isn’t too bad – I did a reinstall on one of my laptops yesterday to get rid of some work-related settings, and the basic option was retain or delete all data. I retained it, since the data was all mine, and I unlinked OneDrive before doing it.
Steve LaBonne
@Professor Bigfoot: Do you happen to know if she’s a citizen? While citizens are certainly not immune, at this point green card holders are significantly more vulnerable.
Steve LaBonne
@A Ghost to Most: Eh, I’m too old to care that Dump and the other degenerate shitheads know what I think of them. In fact I want them to know how much decent people hate them.
kindness
Were I to cross an international border and come back into the US nowdays, I’d get a burner phone and use that during my travels. I’d leave my regular cell phone home.
trollhattan
@kindness: Is getting an overseas SIM card a worthwhile half measure? I know you can get prepaid service for travel destinations that way.
RaflW
Since I’m an avgeek, I looked at, for example, Sat, May 3. There are over 1,530 seats offered across 5 nonstops from the London area to Orlando. Add in another ~660 seats nonstop Manchester-Orlando, and one starts to see how many people from the UK fly to central Florida for vacay — and this doesn’t include the many people who fly connecting itns to save money. Or fly London-Miami, etc.
Disney and the FL beaches are huge destinations for our oft-pale brethren from across the pond. LHR-JFK is another massive market.
It will be interesting to see how the travel industry shakes out. Will any of the US carriers even dare to complain, perhaps to the FL GOP delegation in Congress? Given the general shriveling of cojones in corporate America, I’m guessing no.
laura
The majority of a British Punk band UK Subs were refused entry at LAX: https://www.stereogum.com/2301403/u-k-subs-explain-random-lineup-at-la-punk-fest-three-members-were-denied-entry-to-us/news/
Steve in the ATL
@RaflW: if you’ve ever been to the Orlando airport (my least favorite in the country), there is a whole terminal of nothing but international flights, then vast majority of which are to or from the UK.
danielx
Nacht und Nebel
This phrase keeps running through my mind, because it’s more or less what we’re seeing now. “Disappearing” people is standard operating procedure for any police state. They’re doing it now to immigrants and it will be extended to anyone who does, says or thinks anything Dear Leader doesn’t like.
RaflW
@kindness: I used to delete Xhitter* from my phone before departing Europe during Trump I. I never use fingerprint or face ID. These days I think a burner would make more sense.
*Now not a concern because I quit well over a year ago. But I’d prob. delete Bsky if I brought my phone. I usually bring my iPad, too, but I guess that shouldn’t cross borders any more either.
Steve LaBonne
@laura: In the classical music world, at least two world-renowned performers- violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Sir András Schiff- have canceled their US tours in protest at our shiny new fascist regime.
RaflW
@Steve LaBonne: I saw that VJ Dance got booed as an audience member at the Kennedy Center recently, but I also thought: Who plays there now, since the board has been hostile-takeover-ed? Isn’t it all RW schlock now?
Soprano2
I talked to my financial adviser’s assistant yesterday. They have a green card employee from Romania. She’s vacationing in Florida this week because she’s afraid to leave the country.
Steve LaBonne
@RaflW: National Symphony and Kennedy Center Opera- the resident organizations. For now anyway.
Soprano2
@JoyceH: The ejection of as many non-white people as possible.
Steve LaBonne
@Soprano2: Followed by white people guilty of crimethink.
cain
Everything screams isolating the country. To what end is what I’m wondering..
Asparagus Aspersions
French resident here. In the last week, I have one British friend who abandoned plans to do a family trip to NY, and a friend’s colleague who was planning to do research in the US and is now planning to stay in Europe. I’m sure there are many more.
RaflW
@Steve in the ATL: I’ve done Orlando, Tampa, Ft. Meyers, Miami and Ft Lauderdale over the years. Can’t say I’ve liked any of them a lot, though Ft. Meyers is pretty easy.
Kinda moot going forward. The friends we have in FL understand that we have an open door for them to visit us, or we’d be happy to meet in a third, not-insane vacation destination. FL is off the list.
Another Scott
@schrodingers_cat: I’ve used OBS Studio to look at the output of a cheap video camera I stuck on some equipment at work. It has worked great for that. I haven’t tried saving recordings, editing, etc., so I don’t know anything about using it for that.
HTH a little.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Geminid
The Adirondack Explorer published an article March 18 titled:
Data released by Statistics Canada showed a 23% decline in Canadians retuning to Canada compared to last February. Plattsburgh town supervisor Michel Cashman says he can tell:
Cashman noted that this will impact Plattsburgh town revenues:
Plattsburgh is about 25 miles south of the border with Quebec Province, just off I-87.
Steve LaBonne
@cain: Seems to be a reflex of all fascist regimes. Anything foreign is cultural contamination.
La Nonna
We have cancelled our plans to visit family in the US in August, we”ll miss a granddaughter’s wedding. Usually we travel via Montreal from Italy, lots closer to the Adirondacks than NYC or EWR. After 15 years in Italy, with my “foreign name”, not feeling like explaining to CBP/ICE why we choose to live in Europe. The newlyweds will visit us instead, more enjoyable all around.
RaflW
@Steve LaBonne: Makes sense. I feel so bad for the artist/performers.
Kim Walker
I am worried about going (driving) over the border to visit family. I will no longer take my laptop, but I will take my phone. I don’t do social media. I’ve never, ever had any problem but I’m anticipating it now and I’m still a citizen. But I love my kids and grandkids and miss them – I only get to see them once or twice a year for a couple of weeks.
eclare
@kindness:
I’d get a burner too.
Gretchen
@RaflW: As Vance was being booed he pulled out a hip flask and took some swigs from it. I’ve had symphony tickets for years and never saw anyone do that. Is he too much of an alkie to go through a whole performance without a drink?
Rose Judson
@RaflW: I don’t have any social media apps on my phone – I access via the browser. But I’m thinking if I do travel in August, I’ll bring an old phone and travel via Dublin (where you do US pre-clearance before you fly to the US).
WTFGhost
@Steve LaBonne: Imagine Musk catches you being annoying, and targets you and other annoying people for, e.g., a missed social security check, now that the seed has been sown that “the fraudsters will scream the loudest.”
That’s the kind of power Musk would have, if he could collect all the social security data, and he’d be glad to target it at critics and blue-staters, while mostly avoiding Trump voters.
It used to be, there wasn’t enough data or computing power to do this kind of thing, but, now there is, and Musk is furious a judge is blocking him from getting it, so he can play “God-mode” on every American’s financial data.
@cain: Putin thinks isolating America is just fine, and he has a “friend” who’s stupid enough to listen to him.
Bill Arnold
@Chetan Murthy:
Also see Border search exception (wikipedia)
See the article for a discussion about what “reasonable suspicion” is in this context. It is not well defined.
WTFGhost
@Gretchen: Typically, you don’t see a gentleman with a hip flask taking a swallow – it’s not something you hide, like porn on your laptop screen, but it’s not something you show off, either.
Obviously, newer people come up with their own traditions. Me, hey, I’d wait for the camera to go away before showing I’m so rattled I need comfort… but that’s me. I think Vance should be as proud of his drink taking as he is of his mother’s struggles with addiction.
Damn. The last bit laid it on too thick, didn’t it?
eclare
@WTFGhost:
I haven’t had a drink from a flask since college. They are handy for college football games. Of course this was in the Bronze Age when no booze was sold at my alma mater’s stadium.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Melancholy Jaques: let us ban private prisons in clear and precise language in all 50 state constitutions as well as the federal one.
and amend the federal constitution to state unequivocally that corporations are not people.
montanareddog
@Rose Judson:
Some jackals may remember that, some time back, I submitted a petition to the UK parliament proposing that all UK government entities stop using Twitter as a social media tool. I eventually got a response a couple of weeks back that my petition was rejected, and would not be published on Parliament’s website, because it targeted a private entity and not a governmental activity. Transparent bullshit because the petition was asking the government to refrain from doing something, but apparently there is no right of appeal to the decision.
TBone
A great reminder from Stonekettle of how it’s supposed to work:
https://bsky.app/profile/stonekettle.bsky.social/post/3lkxvqmky2k24
A Ghost to Most
@Steve LaBonne: I would, as well, but given the circumstances, and potential future plans, I prefer to fly low.
TBone
@montanareddog: ugh, thanks for the attempt.
Steve LaBonne
@A Ghost to Most: Those with good cause to be prudent definitely should be.
TBone
@cain: invisible wall
Percysowner
My doctor is a great doctor and a great guy. He was also born in India and brought here when he was 5 months old. He IS naturalized as is his wife and they have 2 kids born here. I had an appointment last week and asked him if he and his family feel safe. He said no. They are also scheduled to go to Paris for vacation and they are afraid they may not be let back into the country. They are taking copies of every scrap of proof that they are citizens, but still they are afraid. His wife told them once they are dealing with coming people in the airports he can NOT say anything, because he may not be able to control his anger. She’s told him just shut up and let ME talk.
This is INSANE. He shouldn’t have to worry that he won’t be able to get back into his own country, or even worse, that he may be thrown into some prison while they scour his emails, or messages, or what the hell ever they look at. I just want to cry when I think about it.
Steve LaBonne
@WTFGhost: Fortunately SS is a fairly small part of my retirement income.
NotMax
@WTFGhost
Literally drinking the Kool-aid.
//
Steve in the ATL
@HopefullyNotcassandra: god yes
Percysowner
@Steve LaBonne: I’m lucky, I’m under State PERS, so I don’t get SS. My ex, OTOH relies on it. He does have some retirement savings, but not a lot due to mental health issues.
I am worried about Medicare, not that I think it will go away totally, I just think they may force me off traditional Medicare and force me onto one of those awful Advantage plans.
Steve LaBonne
@Percysowner: I am in largely the same position, most of our income is from Ohio PERS. (Our lump sum SS payment under the SS Fairness Act was useful, and the increased monthly benefit will be nice while it lasts.)
Ohio Mom
Test — my comments work again!
Ohio Mom
@Percysowner: We are all going to need two cells: our everyday phone and the one we take on our trips, especially ones overseas. And forget about taking your laptop!
HopefullyNotcassandra
@danielx: I don’t think this tidbit will make you feel any better. Disappearing human beings is not new.
Our inalienable rights have been found exceptionally aliénable in the 21st century. This administration is the grotesque outgrowth of that already extant malignancy IMHO
Our country has been disappearing people for decades now. I am not simply talking about Bush II era secret torture sites either. These policies originated with Newt Gingrich way back in the 1990’s.
This is from a Human Rights Watch report released in 2009
Democratic administrations minimize this horror by instructing ICE to use their limited resources to pursue undocumented immigrant criminals. Republicans appear to enjoy the pain these policies inflict. I do not know any other way to explain it.
We need to prohibit private prisons by constitutional amendment.
IMHO we need to treat every human being like a human being
gene108
@Geminid:
I think it’s simpler than that. People move to where the jobs are at. If you no longer having funding in the U.S. to do research, and some other countries offers to fund it, you move overseas. The risk of being fucked by ICE just gives some folks the extra nudge they need to start job hunting.
**************
I wonder how much of a clusterfuck the World Cup and Olympics will be regarding any foreigners, who want to come and cheer their country on?
HopefullyNotcassandra
@RaflW: all of the Broadway shows no longer running apparently
The Kennedy Center blew past its mid-March deadline to announce its upcoming schedule.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-kennedy-center/
HopefullyNotcassandra
@cain: a new and more horrible North Korea ?
WaterGirl
@Ohio Mom: Yeah, I found 4 of your comments in SPAM, maybe an hour or two ago? Anyway I marked them all as not SPAM and then freed them.
If that happens again, let me know. It didn’t like something about the first of the 4, and then once it thinks you’re spam, your stuff doesn’t show up.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Steve LaBonne: Gotta get rid of those “outside agitators.”
Timill
@Bill Arnold: Also, that’s any border crossing, including international airports, not just ones on the coast or land crossings with Mexico and Canada.
Glidwrith
Having scientists refused entry to the US is really bad for research. Conferences is where the cutting edge work is presented, collaboration between labs, finding jobs. Published research in the journals is at least a year old.
Professor Bigfoot
@Steve LaBonne: I don’t— seems impolitic to ask, y’know?
Meanwhile I have friends who are naturalized citizens and I worry about them too.
montanareddog
@RaflW: last summer, our family (my wife and I + 1 adult son) holiday was to SE Asia, flying in to Singapore. On arrival at Changi airport, my son and I passed through the automatic passport machines but my wife was bleeped by the machine and escorted to a holding area, from which she was released 30 minutes later after a manual passport check with no explanation from the immigration official.
A week later, we returned from Malaysia to Singapore at the land border and the same thing happened. This time she was escorted by two goons to the holding area and was only released after she complied with the request to open her phone and show her Facebook timeline to an immigration officer.
We are all naturalized citizens of the same country so what made my wife a person of interest to them? It made us wonder if countries like Singapore are using AI, or Israeli spyware, or something, to look for potential red flags, and getting false positives.
I don’t think it was a coincidence that ICE decided to check the phone of the French scientist who had expressed negative opinions online about Trump.
Martin
Friend of mine works in the tourism business in Palm Springs, and they’re freaking out. There is no summer tourism there – it’s too fucking hot, but they get a lot of business from Canadians coming down in winter, with regular business up through the end of spring, and the place is clearing out early this year. His suspicion is a lot of Canadians cancelled trips and some cut them short and made for the exits. Coachella is coming up in about 3 weeks and demand seems to be really soft from the big spenders – the folks who fly in for the festival. CA has really ramped up their tourism campaign and we’re seeing more in-state specials to try and get locals.
Baud
@Martin:
Hopefully FL will feel the pain. CA already votes for the good of the country.
Martin
@gene108: Olympics at least will vary. It’s in LA, so they can fill all the venues just with locals if push comes to shove, but that doesn’t help the hotels and the like that were expecting foreign travelers to drop pretty big money. We were in Paris just before their games, and the amount of money being spent to prepare for those tourists was non-trivial. Fortunately we’re far enough out that businesses can calibrate for the potential demand, but it’s still potential lost revenue. Thankfully when LA runs the games, they do it on a shoestring, so they’re still likely to fare okay. Most of the spending is on getting transit done in time for the games, which is really just an effort to get tourists to subsidize infrastructure that we were otherwise building.
Cgerrib
The World Science Fiction Convention to be held in Seattle in August is already seeing cancellations of international attendees.
Martin
@Baud: My sense its that FL has less international tourism and CA has more. Vegas and NYC also have more.
Jay
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/us-travel-registration-canadians-1.7490768
Dual Nationals are advised to use their Canadian Passport only, unless of course, they are Canadian Americans.
Martin
@gene108: My sense is that the World Cup will get pretty ugly. For one, it’s a cooperative event between 3 countries, one of which can’t stop telling the other two to GFY. But it also doesn’t draw a huge domestic audience and is probably much more likely to rely on international tourists, who at least in this case do have something of a choice – they can choose to attend the Canada and Mexico matches and skip the US ones, as it’s unlikely they’re flying between all of these cities to catch all the ones their favorite team plays.
I’m half wondering if we won’t see some nations boycott the games if this continues.
Baud
Vía Reddit
gene108
@cain:
I think it depends who is drawing up the plans.
The white supremacists Christian nationalists want to impose their beliefs on everyone else in the country, and punish people who violate their doctrine. If that means the U.S. becomes isolated and economically stagnant, they’d be okay with it.
There are the tech-oligarchs who have their own crazy ass views about replacing the U.S. government, but probably haven’t thought through how the rest of the world will react to their techno-bureaucratic dictatorship and what it means to their share prices.
There are the regular Fortune 500 CEO oligarchs, who seem to be unable to think beyond tax cuts and less government oversight in their support of Republicans.
Baud
@gene108:
And putting labor in their place.
Steve LaBonne
@Professor Bigfoot: As you should. I was afraid for my (India-born) ex-wife, my daughter’s mother, even under Trump I. I am even more worried now.
Martin
@Jay: The real problem in these situations, in my experience, is that regardless of what the policies say, the lack of supervision, oversight, and general staffing means that you have a bunch of undertrained employees making ad-hoc decisions which may well be illegal. So even if you are complying with the policy, who the fuck knows what is going to happen to you. To date, most of the detentions we’ve seen appeared to be of people who were following policy.
One of the reasons why the US was always seen as a safe place to travel is that the laws were clearly published and strictly enforced. Once your laws turn into calvinball in terms of enforcement, shit gets real scary, real fast.
eclare
@Baud:
Warnock was also there
https://bsky.app/profile/acyn.bsky.social/post/3lkygdkg4kc2a
Elect a preacher, you get a sermon. In a good way.
Doug R
@kindness:
As someone who spent most of their life in BC, I agree.
Professor Bigfoot
@TBone: “Pastor Niemöller’s wisdom chases them, but they are always faster.”
Gretchen
@eclare: pretty sure they sell cocktails at the Kennedy Center. It was odd that he needed a flask.
Professor Bigfoot
@Timill: And pretty much EVERYONE is within a 100 mile radius of an international airport.
eclare
@Gretchen:
Good point. I’m sure Kennedy Center sells drinks.
Chetan Murthy
@Gretchen: You can take the boy outta the holler, but you can’t take the holler outta the boy.
scav
Nah, he knows anything potable he buys publicly has been spat in.
Nelle
My nephew, who is Congolese by birth, has a green card. He’s sort of screwed up, in many ways, but is a kind person at heart. Not much common sense. He’s been in the States since ’97. He was picked up by ICE yesterday. I’m hoping that they deport him to the DRC; that would be best all around. I fear for his life if they send him to El Salvador. I’m trying to find out information (his folks are in Kinshasa, so aren’t in much of a position to get info).
Another Scott
@Nelle: :-(
Please keep us updated and let us know if we can help.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Chief Oshkosh
@JoyceH:
Armed confrontation so that he can declare marshal law.
That’s not snark.
Almost Retired
@Nelle: Oh no. That’s rough. My daughter in law’s Dad canceled his trip to LA from London. His passport is from Zimbabwe, so his attitude is “fuck that.” My DIL is disappointed, but so am I because her Dad and I go bar-hopping like overgrown teenagers and embarrass our children. Can’t say I blame him.
TBone
A “sales rush” scam apparently being perpetrated by Tesla in Canada. Too many “sales” occurring simultaneously in order to recoup rebate money before program ends:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/hundreds-of-tesla-evs-pile-up-in-canadian-parking-lots-after-suspicious-sales-rush/ar-AA1BssjP
Harrison Wesley
@gene108: Different leopards for different faces.
Harrison Wesley
@Gretchen: Why is everybody assuming he was drinking alcohol? I would think a furniture fornicator would be more into fabric softener.
Martin
@Harrison Wesley: Lil’ swig of Old English.
eclare
@Nelle:
Oh that is terrifying. Keep us posted.
Ohio Mom
@Nelle: I fear for his life too.
Try calling your Congressmen and asking for their help —that’s one of their jobs, helping constituents navigate the governmental bureacracy. I might play up that he’s a sweet but cognitively challenged fellow.
Jay
@Chetan Murthy:
Couchfucker grew up middle class in a small City. Boy couldn’t even find a “holler” if all the front porches had Ethan Allen’s Best outside, visible from the road.
Nelle
@Ohio Mom:Thank you for that suggestion as to how to word it. I’ll see what I can do.
Sally
@Glidwrith: My son working overseas in medical research was due to present at a conference in April. No longer attending.
Trivia Man
@TBone: and no whistleblower yet? Has to be a minimum of dozens of people involved just to fill out paperwork. Surely ONE can at least anonymously point to the method and where the paperwork is
Redshift
The World Science Fiction Convention is in Seattle this year (August) and after the election there were already people with memberships who were taking about not feeling safe coming (SF fandom has long had strong LGBTQ+ representation.)
The convention chair issued a statement this week that is well worth reading. Among other things, it emphasizes that the in-person convention will go forward, but they will work to make even more of the events accessible online and shift some time slots to accommodate different timezones. And that we will not compromise any of our principles, and “This is a time to support each other,” signing it, “in solidarity.”
WaterGirl
@Nelle: Oh, no. He has a green card, what’s the excuse for picking him up? Besides being the wrong color. They are terrorizing people in the US. It should be incomprehensible, but it’s par for the course.
–ly Ballou
Jessica Aber, a former U.S. Attorney for Virginia’s Eastern District who resigned after Trump’s inauguration, has been found dead in her home at 43.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jessica-aber-former-federal-prosecutor-found-dead-virginia-home
WaterGirl
@Ohio Mom: That’s a good idea.
Darkrose
@Cgerrib: I am bitterly amused. There’s a Worldcon bid from Uganda, and a lot of people pointed out that LGBT+ folks might not feel safe there. Turns out the problem is going to be coming here.
Darkrose
@Redshift: Sad but not surprising. Marco “99-0” Rubio has directed that your visa better match your gender assigned at birth or you can’t enter the country. It’s appalling.
Baud
@eclare:
Another Scott
@Redshift: I received my copy of the IEEE Power Electronics Magazine this week. Thumbing through it, and skimming the conference summaries, it’s obvious the articles were written before November 2024.
Especially on seeing: PELS Strategic Diversity: Introducing the ADVANCE Initiative [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion]:
While the magazine articles may have been written months ago, the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) DEI page is still up and still saying good things about their goals and intentions.
Perhaps more organizations like the WSFC and the IEEE not obeying in advance will help buck-up more of our leaders and fellow citizens.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
@Nelle:
Hoping for the best.
Rusty
@Gretchen: This is Virtue signaling to the right wing. He is setting himself for a run at the presidency in 2028, and this makes him a good ol’ boy that the base can relate to. It’s all BS od course, but here we are.
Jay
@Trivia Man:
Transport Canada is investigating, so mums the word until their investigation concludes.
There are some rumours though. They were apparently “paper sales” to numbered Brokerages. However, the sales and deliveries had to be made before the deadline.
The one day “sales” volume from just those 4 “dealerships” is equal in volume to 1/3rd of all Tesla’s sold in Canada in 2024.
Baud
@Rusty:
It’s George Bush clearing brush all over again.
Martin
@Another Scott: Not everyone is complying. Several corporations have had shareholder votes to remove DEI initiatives and they’ve been voted down in overwhelming (like 99%-1%) numbers, indicating the large institutional investors must have voted them down.
UC hasn’t eliminated theirs. They got rid of diversity letters for applicants, but that wasn’t used across the system – my campus never used them, or if we did, it was only in a few places. All of the other initiatives are still in place. I wouldn’t be surprised if IEEE held the line here.
NotMax
This story flew under my news consumption radar.
Germany seizes Russian oil tanker..
Viva BrisVegas
So no more doing chores while international housesitting in the US.
The cat had better learn to feed itself.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
The 5300 year old ice man had dark skin, also too.
(Emphasis added.)
Another thing to blame on Ancient Big Ag??
Hmm….
Best wishes,
Scott.
Martin
@Another Scott: Boy, carnivore diet turns you black is going to make for some awkward manosphere conversations.
Baud
@Another Scott:
@Martin:
Vegans are the real racists.
u
@Martin: Hell, yes. I forgot that the U.S. will be hosting the World Cup soon. I won’t be surprised if a lot of countries just boycott this shit-hole of a country instead of risking harassment or worse from ICE thugs.
Martin
@Baud: I’m merely vegetarian and eat a lot of cheese, so where does that leave me?
Jackie
@Another Scott: North America, including the US and Canada, also consisted of dark skinned people – before being invaded by Anglo Saxons and Vikings and the like. Something MAGA and FFOTUS prefer to scrub from history.
David Collier-Brown
@hells littlest angel: We’re shunning Mr Trump.
NotMax
@Jackie
Among the things the Lewis & Clark expedition was tasked to look for along the way was a tribe of blond haired, blue eyed Natives who spoke Welsh.
NOT snark.
David Collier-Brown
@Another Scott: “Elbows up” is a warning that the opposing hockey team is playing dirty.
We still love our American cousins
eclare
@David Collier-Brown:
Thank you! I wondered what that meant.
Jay
@David Collier-Brown:
Some of them.
Apparently 84% of the morons who couldn’t be arsed to vote don’t approve of how things are going,………… oh, and egg prices.
David Collier-Brown
@Steve LaBonne: My grumpyness is here, not on faceplant
Professor Bigfoot
@Martin: Constipated?
(at least, that’s what happens to me when I eat a lot of cheese…)
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Another Scott: we all come from Africa
Our genes just keep on proving it.
Jackie
@NotMax: I live on part of the Lewis and Clark trail. The part of the Columbia River where they forded it crossing from WA to OR. Of course then it was all the Oregon Territory.
Jay
@eclare:
It’s a Gordie Howe-ism.
The corners behind his team’s net, was Gordie’s turf. If you came into his corners and played dirty, he would shout out to his team mates, “elbows up”, then take out the miscreant. See accidentally, (deliberately) hitting an opponent in the head with your elbows, because your elbows were up, wasn’t a penalty.
Gvg
@Martin: Florida has plenty of international. I don’t know a comparison, but it was always quite noticeable. I grew up in Orlando and Disney was part of the background. Also my parents liked international travel and the flights in and out of Orlando were always interesting if they chatted up the people. People from other countries that saved for the big trip to Disney yearly and spent major money. Every year! Instead of someplace cultural or new to them. The parents were more into it than kids and kids were plenty invested. There are plenty of Americans just like that too. Florida totally needs tourism including international and the Trump regimes moves are likely to kill even domestic tourism. Uncertainty is going to make people stay home IMO.
ohthatguy
I’m a white, male US citizen. My wife is none of those things. We haven’t been back to th US for several years, because life kept us busy. We planned to go this summer to see friends and family, but probably going to skip it. The odds are good she would get into the country with no problem, as most people aren’t being detained, but if she’s picked there’s no way of knowing what will happen and no legal recourse it seems. We’ll probably visit Canada and tell friends they can come meet us
Jay
@HopefullyNotcassandra:
And we are all a little bit Neanderthal.
YY_Sima Qian
@Jay: Yes, if one chooses to use a still valid PRC national ID to travel around the PRC (because of the extraordinary convenience), even if one used the foreign passport for entry & exit, the PRC government can choose to treat one as a PRC citizen. Per PRC law, acquiring foreign citizenship does not automatically invalidate one’s PRC citizenship, even though the PRC does not recognize dual citizenship, & even if one has gone through the much shorter process of registering one’s hukou (household registration) on account of foreign citizenship (can’t get a PRC visa otherwise) though the Public Security Bureau. One has to go through a lengthy process of “denaturalization” through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Two different bureaucracies.
That is how the CPC regime justified the rendition (from Thailand) & arrest of the Swedish Chinese bookshop owner based in Hong Kong that specialized in selling “thinly sourced ‘exposés’” of the inner workings of the regime. The guy had ill advisedly traveled in the PRC using his PRC National ID, & also had a hit & run on his record.
Of course, the CPC regime reserves such niche enforcement against perceived threats. Enforcing it widely would precipitate widespread backlash. Almost no PRC National who take on foreign citizenship bother w/ the “denaturalization” process. Plenty use their still valid PRC National IDs to travel around in the country.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jay: As I recall, people joked rather sourly about Howe “sharpening” his elbows.
A Ghost to Most
@David Collier-Brown: My high school hockey team practiced against Canadian high schoolers, because that was where we could get ice time. I was the goalie.
David Collier-Brown
@TBone: Attempting to obtain money upon a false and fraudulent pretence.
As an example (randomly chosen) see https://www.canlii.org/en/nt/ntsc/doc/1899/1899canlii110/1899canlii110.html?resultId=bd28d2db363349f6b1c3cea2ca36f23b&searchId=2025-03-22T20:35:06:989/ebffaa05a3e84418a73efae8770003e6&searchUrlHash=AAAAAQA_QXR0ZW1wdGluZyB0byBvYnRhaW4gbW9uZXkgdXBvbiBhIGZhbHNlIGFuZCBmcmF1ZHVsZW50IHByZXRlbmNlAAAAAAE
eclare
@Jay:
Thanks!
Lyrebird
One of my main professional conferences sent out a pleading email several weeks ago not quite begging people to come anyway… the conf hotel block was reserved like 2 years ago, the prof. organization has to pay if the rooms do not fill.
I am proud of work my org has done in the past, e.g. during the Muslim travel ban, to reach out to all members. But like @Baud: said, at this point in time, I would not think the risk would be worth it.
I am grateful to the Canadian detainee (I am guessing she is also white) for speaking out.
Another Scott
@Martin: When I was young and broke and hungry all the time, for a while I was eating a pound of raw carrots every day with lunch. After a few weeks I noticed that my skin was developing a pronounced orange tint… I gave up carrots with lunch after that!
Best wishes,
Scott.
Martin
@Gvg: Just looked it up. By rank it’s NY, then FL, then CA. Not what I expected. Shit, I thought just visiting family would put CA higher given that ⅓ of our population are immigrants. That’s more than half FLs population right there.
eclare
@Another Scott:
A pound of raw carrots? Yep that will change your skin color.
Martin
@Another Scott: PB&J for me. I’d take a loaf of bread, turn the whole thing into sandwiches and then file them back into the bread bag and take it with me, and eat out of it until it was empty, and repeat. Still beat some of the stuff I ate as a kid when we were really poor.
NotMax
@Another Scott
Medically speaking, carotenosis.
Jay
@Martin:
Peanut butter sandwiches, yoghurt, bananas. 3 meals a day.
Except Friday night dinners. We would all go to the Mission District, after work, to this one place where a beef and bean buritto was $1, and Dos Equis was $1 a bottle.
RaflW
@HopefullyNotcassandra: Trump proposed “a slate of plays, including Cats, Camelot, Fiddler on the Roof and Hello, Dolly!, seemingly unaware that there are no touring companies presenting those plays from bygone days.”
Ouch. And LOL!
Ramalama
@Jay: official Canada still rates traveling to the US as being green, rather than issue warnings in yellow, orange, or red.
I’m checking it regularly because we are flying Montreal to LAX despite deep misgivings, because family. Might be the last time…might as well do it sooner rather than later as later might be a complete hellhole.
We were already bumped to a new flight because I guess our earlier flight couldn’t fill the plane, so they cancelled it. We called Porter Air twice and both times were told we could cancel up to 24 hours before flying out and cancel for a full refund if we got too nervous to go.
We’re in the cheap seats. This offer never happens. My travel expert aunt couldn’t believe it.
I am taking notes on everyone’s suggestions, burner, no Touch ID, etc. not sure how I’m going to swing it without my laptop as I work remotely.
Ramalama
@RaflW: I mean Betty Buckley could become a national heroine if she offered to sing from every show tune at the Kennedy center for Trump to keep him occupied.