Entry to the US

[najaB]

Generally no, the reports are quite consistent that they're mostly causing trouble for people who are likely to be anti-Trump.

And that attitude, more commonly associated with countries like China or Myanmar, is a good reason to give other destinations a second look.

 

[baz962]

I mean it's not so easy to avoid as my son was moved out there 17 years ago at age 6. But as I said upthread I didn't have any problems and nor did anyone from my flight. As an aside it's getting cheaper so I'm loving it with better exchange rates etc. As to the gun thing , I saw probably my first ever one outside of law enforcement in Texas. My son lives near Seattle and I have never seen one carried there.

 

[najaB]

I mean it's not so easy to avoid as my son was moved out there 17 years ago at age 6.

Well yes, if you're travelling to see friends or family then you don't have much choice. I'll be travelling there at the end of July to see my best friend of some 30 plus years, and his family.

But as I said upthread I didn't have any problems and nor did anyone from my flight.

And to be fair, the likelihood of experiencing any issues isn't that high. But it definitely is higher than it used to be, and the consequences are also greater. So if you're looking for somewhere to go on holiday some of the other 180+ countries in the world might be more attractive.

As to the gun thing , I saw probably my first ever one outside of law enforcement in Texas. My son lives near Seattle and I have never seen one carried there.

I suspect that in Washington its much more common to have rifles for hunting than handguns.

 

[DelW]

I've visited the US seven times between 1986 and 2015, staying up to three weeks at a time, and always enjoyed my visits. I had varying experiences of immigration control, from outright hostile and suspicious in New York in early 2000s, to surprisingly friendly in Seattle in 2015.

But I wouldn't go now. I dislike and distrust the country's leadership which specialises in insulting, belittling, patronising and threatening the rest of the world, while giving an easy ride to warmongers like Putin and Netanyahu.

Those of us outside of the country can register our feelings in several ways, two of which are to not visit the place, and to not buy Tesla cars. I'm intending to avoid both in future, not that that involves much personal sacrifice!

 

[nlogax]

US border control have for decades had a reputation for being antagonising and power-hungry. Trump has no doubt made the situation worse with his recent border orders.

If I visited the US now, I would buy a £50 smartphone, add a barely-used email account onto it, and that's it. Back home my WhatsApp status would say to SMS me. I might not have anything illegal or incriminating on my phone but there's a fair chance I've got a meme somewhere that a US border official could take offence to.

Have not been minded to go down the burner phone route. That option carries its own risks and I'm fine just scrubbing a couple of choice Whatsapp conversations and maybe removing this forum from history + favourites on Chrome.

My overall approach is to just visit the US less. A shame as I've spent an awful lot of time there over the years, but hey, the world's a big place and there is so much of it still to see.

 

[nw1]

I wonder what a border guard would say if you said "First Amendment!" to them if they saw you'd previously slagged off Trump or Vance online and threatened you with deportation, detention, etc.

Doubly so given that the slagging off was done outside the US's borders, and therefore the so-called "crime" was outside their jurisdiction in any case.

Or does the First Amendment only apply to US citizens?

 

[styles]

I wonder what a border guard would say if you said "First Amendment!" to them if they saw you'd previously slagged off Trump or Vance online and threatened you with deportation, detention, etc.

Doubly so given that the slagging off was done outside the US's borders, and therefore the so-called "crime" was outside their jurisdiction in any case.

Or does the First Amendment only apply to US citizens?

Constitution only applies to US citizens.

Which is also why they can refuse searches more easily at the border.

 

[66701GBRF]

Constitution only applies to US citizens.

Which is also why they can refuse searches more easily at the border.

This is not strictly correct. The constitution applies to everyone within the border. But certain rights are only reserved for US citizens.

 

[m0ffy]

This is not strictly correct. The constitution applies to everyone within the border. But certain rights are only reserved for US citizens.

And border zones (which are huge) also feature limitations on constitutional rights affecting both Americans and the rest of us.

 

[Gloster]

Might I suggest that the majority of posters in this thread are probably white, Anglo-Saxon, English speakers with British passports who are less likely to be one of the groups that border control will concentrate on when they enter the country. Once the border control has beefed things up or if it just hasn‘t got so many people to handle one day, they might find that things aren’t so smooth.

 

[TheTTTEGeek]

Moderator note - split from:

The "And in other news..." thread

If you're anything like me you probably come across stories that you feel like sharing, but half-way through posting a new thread you think "Maybe it's not necessary to start a whole new thread about this I might be the only person who finds it interesting. OMG, if I post this they're going to...

www.railforums.co.uk

This could be an example of the Streisand effect: the incident has now led to that meme going even more viral than it might otherwise have done had the refusal of entry never happened.

Just found out the mods split my post (whatever that means) as i was taking care of my 85 year old grandmother (father's side) after he bed frame broke with her in it so i just thought i'd let people know i'm back

 

[najaB]

Just found out the mods split my post (whatever that means) as i was taking care of my 85 year old grandmother (father's side) after he bed frame broke with her in it so i just thought i'd let people know i'm back

Hopefully she is okay? The thread split just means that they used your post in an existing thread as the start of a new thread, since the conversation that resulted from it, while interesting, was possibly off-topic for the original thread.

 

[TheTTTEGeek]

Hopefully she is okay? The thread split just means that they used your post in an existing thread as the start of a new thread, since the conversation that resulted from it, while interesting, was possibly off-topic for the original thread.

Yeah she's OK now. Luckily a few weeks ago i saw some spare wooden planks in a skip & managed to fix the bed as the manufacturer used glued together wood chips to form a plank for the slats that hold the mattress. mind you she is only 69 (yes i am aware it funny number that means blowjob sex at least in my country) kilo despite the fact the bed frame being rated as safe enough for 100kg person & their mattress. I am thankful (to God) that she didn't break a bone which luckily the mattress caved in on her shielding her from any bone damage