Ask Lemmy

Don't go. At all, for any reason. If what has already transpired during Trump's second term hasn't been enough reason to avoid travel, its on him if anything bad happens.

Can't say you weren't warned.

Realistically, most people entering as tourists need to be concerned with CBP asking for unlocked access to your phone, which will disappear into a back room for a few minutes while they presumably steal all your credentials. The broader scare stories about detention, interrogation, and deportation are really very rare.

I have some (stupid) non-white-passing family that have been travelling to the US (including Florida) regularly and they have had zero issues.

I would absolutely not go. Full stop. But when you look at the real numbers, tourist entry into the US isn’t down all that much and most people who desire to go don’t have any issues with immigration.

Even Americans, who aren't Caucasian, are being put into ICE detention (or deported). The US is a dangerous place for anyone with darker skin. Even worse for visitors. Not even safe for Canadians.

Forget it. Even before this shit happened, a middle eastern looking friend of mine had to stop going to US conferences because he would always get turned away at the border.

I live in America but I'm fairly disconnected from everything that's happening because I live in a very isolated area living a fairly isolated life. However from everything I'm hearing from the news, if I was in your position, I would not step foot here. The worst people imaginable are running the country and it's genuinely not safe for even the people already living here.

I definitely would not give them any of the information you listed, that's insane. These people cannot be trusted.

Unless it's of vital life and death importance that you come here, it's not worth the risk right now. Hopefully MAGA dies and sane people start running the country again, but right now I cannot in good consciousness recommend that you come here.

After reading all these comments, the impression I'm getting is: shithole country

You didn't say why they're coming. That matters. If they're coming for soccer-related stuff, they may take a while to interview but they should pass through. In general, the US has millions of people traveling in and out of it per day. Most people don't have any issue. It's just that now, instead of only suspect people having issues, any random person can have an issue because of immigration enforcement quotas. The officers generally don't care about you, the individual they arrest, at all. They arrest white American citizens without any legal authority. They're just boosting their arrest quota. So, if something happens, it'll be by random chance of the officer not caring about their job.

I have a white coworker who goes to the states almost every weekend to visit family... probably low risk since they're white...

Here's where is gets wild:

My manager is a muslim, clearly visibly middle eastern. Goes to NYC for meeting twice a month.

My friend is pakistani, muslim, middle name is mohammed right there in his passport. Goes to lots of midwest states for meetings at least once a month

Neither on has had any problems at the border and they tell me that my apprehensions about travel to the US are blown out of proportion....

I still wont go down there, but i hope for their sakes that they are right.

so basically 3/3 people i know who travel regularly to the states have no problems... clearly ymmv.

Low probability of incident, but very serious consequences if it happens

Show your friend this thread. This is a bad idea. There was an Irish woman held for months. No trip is worth what this could turn into.

Forgive me but I did an AI search and here is what it came up with.

🇩🇪 Germany Lucas Sielaff / Celov: A 25-year-old German citizen visiting his American fiancée was detained for 16 days at the Otay Mesa Detention Facility south of San Diego. He was taken into custody while returning from a day trip to Tijuana, Mexico, after border officials accused him of violating his 90-day tourist permit.

Jessica Brösche / Brocha: An artist from Berlin was detained for over six weeks, spending more than a week in solitary confinement. Authorities took her into custody at the San Diego border after accusing her of intending to perform unauthorized work because she was traveling with tattooing equipment.

Fabian Schmidt: A German national holding a U.S. green card was arrested and interrogated at the Boston airport upon returning from a vacation. His detention drew widespread criticism from local lawmakers.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom Becky Burke: A 28-year-old graphic artist from Wales was held in an ICE Processing Centre in Washington State for 19 days. The detention followed a visa mix-up when she was denied entry at the Canadian border while attempting to leave the U.S..

🇳🇴 Norway "Degman": A Norwegian woman married to a U.S. citizen was arrested by ICE during a scheduled hearing at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in San Diego. She was held at Otay Mesa for a week for overstaying a visa before a judge terminated her case.

🇮🇪 Ireland Sheamus Culliton: An Irish citizen from Kilkenny who had lived in the U.S. for 17 years was detained in an ICE facility in Texas while awaiting his green card.

🇳🇱 Netherlands Owen Ramsingh: A permanent resident who immigrated to the U.S. from the Netherlands in 1986 had his green card revoked and was placed in ICE custody for removal proceedings following a trip to Europe.

🇫🇷 France Marie-Thérèse Ross: An 85-year-old French widow was arrested by ICE agents at her home in Alabama after overstaying her 90-day tourist visa. Ross had moved to the United States to marry a former U.S. serviceman she had first met in France in the 1950s. Following her husband's death, she was placed in a Louisiana immigration facility where she was reportedly handcuffed by her hands and feet. She spent 16 days in federal custody before being deported back to France. Unnamed French Academic: A French researcher traveling to a conference in Houston, Texas, was denied entry and detained at the airport. U.S. border officials targeted the researcher after scanning their personal electronic devices and finding messages critical of U.S. academic research policies.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom Karen Newton: A 65-year-old retired British tourist was detained for six weeks (43 days) at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington. Despite traveling with a valid tourist visa, she and her husband were swept up at the Sweetgrass border crossing in Montana while attempting to return to Canada. Because her detention coincided with a U.S. federal government shutdown, her release was significantly delayed.

🇧🇬 Bulgaria Dmitrii Georgiev: A Bulgarian citizen vacationing in Quebec, Canada, was detained by ICE for nearly three months. Georgiev inadvertently crossed the unmarked U.S.-Canada border line in a rural area, resulting in his immediate arrest and long-term placement in an immigration holding facility.

Your friend is playing with fire and could a get turned away at the airport or put in detention.

don't, just don't.

if you have to, refuse.

stay out of the US right now. not because it's particularly unsafe to be inside the country, but because it's incredibly difficult to safely get inside.

not only that, but going to Florida is like starting foreplay with licking a dirty asshole. some might be into that, but everyone will end up with shit mouth by the end of the night.

I wouldn’t do it lol. I’m from the USA and I don’t even wanna leave because I don’t wanna deal with our fucking customs guys.

Clearly I'm ignorant due to not traveling out of the country in decades, but those demands are shocking to me. We really have devolved into a fascist shithole, huh? They'll probably be fine, but I certainly wouldn't risk it.

That list is an automatic no from me. America is FAR down on the list of countries I would like to see one day, but as long as those requirements exist, absolutely not.

The US literally has nothing that would be worth this

If I was him, I would not go. Simple as that. The US is no safe place for travel.

At this point I wake up every day and wonder when being trans will be labeled a crime. They've come close to doing so, they've already set the precedent that they're allowed to detransition you as punishment for a crime.

2/10 if you're white. 5/10 if you're not.

Very. It's even dangerous to live here as a citizen now on multiple levels, let alone visit from another country. I'd flee in a heartbeat to a country that hasn't turned into a dictatorship yet if I could.

Other people have amazing reasons not to come, so Im not going to add on to that regard. But if your coworker chooses to come, here are some points to take into account when traveling

• Don't make it look like you going to be staying for a while.
• Be the gray man: don't take it literally, but don't dress fancy or to rugged. Blend in. If someone takes a photo of you walking by someone else, you don't want them to say "yeah he went over there".
• be situationally aware: don't be the bumbling idiot with a phone in there hand and earbuds in when walking in public. Keep your head up, wear sunglasses so people can't see where your looking. Stay alert.
• avoid the bad areas: do extensive research on the area your going.
• Cash is king: harder to track and create a profile about your purchases with cash. Don't carry to much otherwise that is a good questioning point
• shit hits the fan: if you noticed your being followed, stay calm and keep moving, make it look like your stoping in a store and go out the back door. Keep a change of clothes, hat and sunglasses. I'm not an expert on evasion but there are plenty of guides out there
• don't bring your personal electronics, use 2nd hand burners for your travels, just use them a bit before coming as to not raise suspicion.

Cheers for posting this. My wife and I wanted to plan a trip to finally see New York but after seeing this and researching that this is actually true, we'll just visit somewhere else.

I'm a white Texan and now try to avoid flying anywhere, even in the United States, due to ICE's presence at airports. I'm glad your coworker is such an optimist and sees this as an opportunity, but that's completely illogical. If someone were to tell me that they paid for me to have a one-on-one experience with a caged lion, I'd only see that as an opportunity to practice saying "no." Even if the lion told me it has countless job opportunities for me.

Wow thats really fucked up considering I could jump in my car and drive across the border into the US right now and the border guards most likely wouldnt look at me twice

We went across last year twice and they just wanted to know why and where were staying, didnt even ask for proof

So its highly dependant on your origin country (im Canadian) and skin colour (im pasty white)

In that interview, they will ONLY be looking for reasons to deny her entry, not to let her in, and they will find something. Then all her expense and trouble will be wasted. I wouldn't bother.

Not dystopian at all. Go enjoy America... /s

Extremely dangerous

Yeah, the problem is even if you don’t encounter problems at the border, there are still random blacked out SUVs driving around abducting, raping, and deporting people, facial recognition with errors that could flag you (publicly accessible too), and at least a 1/3 of everyone you see is a MAGAt who are notoriously violent. The most important problem is that by going, they accept and support these realities with their money.

The Canadian travel advisories site claims that it is generally safe to travel to the US: https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/united-states

Frankly, I think they are bullshitting because of Canada's diplomatic position with the US.

Florida. Yikes.

I'll put it this way. My partner and I live in Canada, but her parents live in the sticks in NY. They are as white as you can get. They recently visited and were stopped at the border and interrogated, not by the Canadian Border Patrol but by ICE at an exit point. They were ultimately ok but it spooked the hell out of them.