An Australian writer was barred from entry into the US because of his online commentaries. The writer, a guy called Alastair Kitchen, said that he was interrogated about his online views and then sent back to Australia.
His views included commentary on the Gaza war and college protests. According to Kitchen, who studied at Columbia, they said, “We know why you’re here”. They also found evidence on his phone of “drug use”, which is legal in most of the US.
This is true banana republic stuff.
The whole story is pretty grim. A flight attendant, not a US government official, was given charge of Mr Kitchen’s phone and passport and said he could have them back when he arrived back in Australia.
Let’s just say that only authorized people are supposed to handle ID and personal information.
There are so many ongoing stories about foreigners being refused entry to the US on what are effectively purely political grounds. The level of “forensic insanity” in this case is a bit unusual, though.
The airport interrogations are notorious. Complaints are made almost daily about brutal or arbitrary treatment of travellers. You have to wonder exactly what this chaotic approach to foreigners is supposed to achieve, except a total boycott on travel to the US.
Travel warnings against going to the US are now pretty much universal, ironically, except for Australia, which describes US entry requirements as “strict”.
Let’s clarify:
Any country can refuse entry for any reason related to the applicable laws of that country.
What laws did Mr Kitchen breach?
He arrived documented with a valid passport.
Look at it from a consumer perspective. You pay money to go all the way over there, and your money is forfeited simply because somebody feels like doing that.
You have no recourse at all in this environment.
The Australian consulate attempted to help, but not much resulted.
None of the issues raised regarding Mr Kitchen’s entry seem to have related to US laws of any kind. There are no applicable laws about foreign citizens expressing their opinions, for example.
This was a purely political process.
This sort of thing also happened in the previous Trump administration.
A statement from Australian acting prime minister Marles included the inexcusably insipid remark about our “profoundly important relationship with the United States”, strategic relationship, etc.
That’s nice.
There are other relationships that are much more important.
These include friends, relatives, and business relationships. People relationships.
Relationships that mean something.
Real Americans, the non-goosestepping variety, don’t act like cartoon dictators.
The message for travellers is DO NOT GO TO AMERICA. Boycott the place until it’s sane again.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
