U.S. border crackdowns catch Australian visitors in the net

Before you pack your bags for the U.S., ask yourself: Is it worth the risk of ending up in immigration purgatory? Dr Norm Sanders writes.

A FRIEND just arrived back from a two-week visit to California. I asked him over coffee how it went.

He replied:

“The trip was great, but immigration at LAX was really scary. A woman with a small child in front of me in line underwent questioning by the officials. She was travelling on a U.S. passport on this trip but was a dual citizen and had entered the U.S. previously on her Australian passport. Officials apparently thought this was suspicious, so she and her crying child were taken away.”

My friend worried that he would be next, with his long hair and black beard. However, he sailed through: “I guess they had reached their deportation quota for he day.”

Australian writer Alistair Kitchen was not so lucky. He was recently detained for 12 hours at Los Angeles International Airport while travelling to New York to visit friends.

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According to the ABC:

Mr Kitchen told the ABC he was pulled from the line at customs and taken to a backroom where his phone was seized.

“We both know why you're here,” a border agent told Mr Kitchen.

When Mr Kitchen was a student at Columbia University in New York last year, he covered pro-Palestinian rallies on campus on his personal blog.

“The officer that detained me said explicitly to me, ‘The reason we have detained you is because of what you have written on the internet about the protests at Columbia’,” Mr Kitchen said.

For 45 minutes, Mr Kitchen said he was “interrogated” about his views on the conflict in the Middle East.

“I was asked what I thought of Israel, what I thought of Palestine, what I thought of Hamas, what I thought of the students protesting,” he said.

“[I was asked] whether I have Jewish friends, whether I have Muslim friends, how I would resolve the conflict in the Middle East.”

Mr Kitchen said he was asked a plethora of questions about the conflict in the Middle East.

Mr Kitchen said he then “made the mistake” of giving an officer his phone passcode, the content of which was downloaded by border agents.

“I did it out of stress and fatigue and fear,” he said.

“The officer came out triumphantly and said, ‘We found evidence on your phone, Mr Kitchen, of prior drug use’.”

As Mr Kitchen had not declared drug use on his Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) form, he said he was accused of misrepresenting himself.

“I was panicked, afraid of this man, afraid of the entire situation. I told him that, ‘Yes, I have consumed drugs before. I lived in New York for six years where marijuana is legal. I've bought weed at dispensaries in the U.S.’”

“A question on a form that, I think we all know millions of Australians have answered in the same way as I have answered, was used as justification for making sure I didn't get back on U.S. soil.”

Mr Kitchen was taken to immigration detention until he could be booked on a flight home.

“I wouldn't wish it on anyone,” he said.

He described a basement with “fluorescent buzzing bulbs”, a television, some instant noodles in a cup and a guard.

“Men and women are separated. You're not allowed to talk to each other. But most difficult is that you don't know how long you're gonna be in there,” he said.

“There was a woman bawling her eyes out, begging in the guard, ‘Please just tell me how long I'm gonna be in here’. He looked at her, with no sympathy and said, ‘I don't have any information for you’.”

The guard, according to Mr Kitchen, gestured to another woman, who was covered in blankets in the corner of the room and said she had been there for four days.

The ABC requested comment from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. There was no reponse.

Eventually, Mr Kitchen was allowed to call the Australian consulate, which informed his mother of his detention but could not say when he would be sent home.

Even after Mr Kitchen's flight, he was not allowed to get his phone back until more than 14 hours later when the Qantas plane he was on arrived in Melbourne on Saturday.

“I was hoping desperately to be able to call my mum, text my mum, text the people I was meant to stay with in New York. Instead, the phone was handed over to the lead flight attendant on my flight who told me that she would hang onto the phone and my passport until we landed in Australia.”

“The consulate said the attendant may give it back to you on the flight or they may choose to hold onto it, and we don't know when they choose and why they don't.”

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The scenario Alistair Kitchen described to the ABC is now a common occurrence in entry halls all over the U.S.

Of course, U.S. immigration officials could be difficult even before Trump World. Some years ago, I travelled to Hawaii for a holiday with my wife, Sue Arnold. She had no trouble and passed quickly into the baggage pickup area.

The official took a hard look at my Australian passport and then said:

“But you were born in Cleveland, Ohio.”

I replied:

“Yes. I renounced my U.S. citizenship.”

He punched a button and two cops hustled me off to detention. I sat for an hour in a room full of silent travellers. We were all afraid to speak in case we might say something which a listening device could pick up and be used against us. Eventually, the door opened and Sue came into the room with an official. She pointed at me and said, “That’s my husband! Let him go!” And they quickly did.

Things are far worse now. ANU Law Professor Donald Rothwell says he's no longer accepting invitations to speak in the United States anymore:

"I do a lot of commentary that's critical of the U.S. — on Guantánamo Bay, on foreign policy, on war powers. I just don't want to take the risk.”

Professor Rothwell has warned of long-term consequences if you're stopped:

Once you've been refused entry to the U.S., that will go on your immigration record — and you'll likely be ineligible for the VWP [Visa Waiver Program] in future.

It can also affect your ability to travel to other countries. You may be asked on future visa applications whether you've ever been deported or refused entry — and you'll have to answer ‘yes’.

If you're detained or questioned by U.S. border officials, it's vital to stay calm and know your limited rights.

You certainly have rights to consular support... detained persons have the right to make a phone call, to family, a friend, or the consulate.

Rothwell adds:

But the ability of the consulate to intervene and assist on your behalf is going to be quite limited.

You could find yourself waiting a very significant period of time before there would be a legal resolution of your case... putting yourself into purgatory for days, weeks, if not a number of months.

Big Brother Donald is watching you. Yes, you.