A few weeks ago, this corner published an article, “Is it safe to travel with a green card nowadays?”
This time, the question is couched in general terms, encompassing a wide gamut of border entry platforms to the US, including a visa waiver entry, nonimmigrant visa entry, immigrant visa admission, entry without inspection, parole entry, and all other types of entry, even entry as an American citizen.
The question becomes relevant in light of recent mind-boggling incidents that occurred at various airports and border checkpoints across the country.
First is the case of a Canadian woman who was applying for entry as a TN professional worker. She was trying to enter via the southern border after being previously denied admission at a US-Canadian crossing.
While details of the incident remain sketchy, the lady was reportedly detained for presenting a spurious document, allegedly an employment letter with a blank company logo.
While denial of entry might have been justified under the circumstances, what’s concerning was the speed by which the lady was arrested, shackled, handcuffed and transported before being detained in a prison-like facility for almost two weeks.
Around the same time, a couple of German tourists on visa-free entry were similarly arrested and detained — one for sixteen days, the other for forty-five days — on two separate occasions while entering the US via the southern border after a brief sojourn in Mexico.
Previously, these types of violations only begot an outright refusal, the worst punishment being summary exclusion or expulsion. After these incidents, travelers to America should henceforth consider being arrested and detained as potential consequences of a questionable entry.
Another incident concerns a visiting French scientist who was barred from entry at a US airport allegedly due to anti-Trump messages found on his phone.
Disputing the initial media reports, the US DHS attributed the incident to “confidential information” found on the scientist’s electronic device which violated a non-disclosure agreement with the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Regardless of the true genesis of the controversy, travelers to the US should now expect a search of their electronic devices, which used to be a random occurrence, to become more prevalent.
Another disturbing incident involves an overstaying Peruvian woman married to an American citizen who was arrested and detained while on a leisure trip to Puerto Rico, a US territory where no border screening is required, and despite the lady’s US permanent residency paperwork being under process.
This comes on the heels of the reported arrest and detention of a 64-year-old Filipina long-time “green card” holder who recently arrived back in the US after a brief visit to the Philippines. Despite prior seamless trips back to the US, she was recently flagged due to a decades-old minor criminal conviction.
Both women remain in custody as of this writing.
Lastly, a US-born woman of Mexican descent was racially profiled and almost detained by ICE agents while vacationing in Puerto Rico.
Although American citizens are not required to carry a passport while traveling to Puerto Rico, the lady was accosted by roving ICE agents at the airport who told her, after demanding to see her passport, “you fit the description of someone who’s undocumented.”
Fortunately, she had her US passport with her.
What if she didn’t?