A 21-year-old tourist has described the horrendous treatment he allegedly received after being denied entry to the USA due to a meme depicting JD Vance as bald being found on his phone

A 21-year-old tourist has described the horrendous treatment he allegedly received after being denied entry to the USA due to a meme depicting JD Vance as bald being found on his phone

  • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
    175·
    23 hours ago

    This not only has been going on awhile, it’s worse than it sounds.

    A French scientist was denied entry at the border earlier this year, in March, after officers unearthed messages criticising Trump on his phone.

    Mikkelsen explained: “They threatened me with a minimum fine of $5,000 or five years in prison if I refused to provide the password to my phone.”

    • XLE@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      721·
      23 hours ago

      Any idea if these threats are actionable? He’s not a US citizen to just fine or imprison.

      • PhilipTheBucketA
        88·
        23 hours ago

        They have “deported” dozens of US citizens at this point. Usually, being a non-citizen makes you more vulnerable to arbitrary bullshit at the border, whereas if you’re a citizen you can stand up much more so for your rights if they’re trying to push you into something illegal, but as of this year it’s starting to matter less and less.

        Everything is actionable once the rule of law collapses. At this point, if you’re crossing the border, you’re in danger of whatever they want to do to you.

        • solsangraal@lemmy.zipEnglish
          69·
          23 hours ago

          i think this is a concept that a lot of people are having a hard time grasping: laws are meaningless if no one enforces them. this 100% applies both to laws meant to protect you, AND laws meant to punish those who are harming you

          On the other hand his actions are not regulated by law or by any clearly formulated code of behaviour. In Oceania there is no law. Thoughts and actions which, when detected, mean certain death are not formally forbidden, and the endless purges, arrests, tortures, imprisonments, and vaporizations are not inflicted as punishment for crimes which have actually been committed, but are merely the wiping-out of persons who might perhaps commit a crime at some time in the future.

          -1984

        • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
          12·
          19 hours ago

          There’s neither even a rhyme nor reason to Trump’s fascism (or to fascism in general). But it does correlate with the observation that they are fantasists. They do things out of whim and emotions, disregarding expert advice and opinions. Any promulgation of fascism will eventually lead to its own downfall, because they live in a fantasy world where they believe that their will alone could shape reality; ignoring the basic common sense that reality could never be altered to one’s desires.

      • flandish@lemmy.world
        27·
        23 hours ago

        they are not legal, as the first amendment applies even to noncitizens. however that doesn’t mean they can’t deny entry for “any” reason. they are fascist after all.

      • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        18·
        23 hours ago

        Depressingly, SCOTUS has ruled that you really don’t have the same rights at border crossings as you do once you’ve passed through.

        This applies to citizens as well as foreign nationals.

      • Kirp123@lemmy.world
        72·
        22 hours ago

        Once you’re in a country you are subject to that country’s laws, it’s a thing you need to be aware of when traveling. A lot of people find that out the hard way.

        So yea, they are actionable if they want it to be.

    • refalo@programming.dev
      3·
      15 hours ago

      How do you put someone in prison who has not entered your country yet?

      And I thought it was already ruled that they can’t hold someone for that long just for not giving up a password at the border?

    • Ledericas@lemm.eeEnglish
      11·
      11 hours ago

      shouldve wrote it in french, instead of english. also whats a scientist still doing in the USA, they are usually fleeing the us.