Consequences

[Diana]

Tiangou wrote:
[quote=pdq]
[quote=Tiangou]
With the risk of being hauled away at the airport without clear cause and without due process, detained indefinitely without contact with family or attorneys… I would not want to travel to the United States either.

If you think Tiangou is being unreasonably concerned, see his thread above.
Not an isolated incident:

German Tourists Detained for Weeks, Then Deported From U.S.

Germany updates US travel advice after three citizens are detained
Is Tiangou unreasonably concerned? No. No, he isn’t.

It only takes a few of these kinds of incidents to make folks think twice about coming here. That may be the point, but it’s doing collateral damage to free thinking and scientific discourse. If I were in another country, and had to be there for my job, I would think twice about coming back to the States. Would they let me in? Would I be detained? Will I be considered as “illegal” if I stayed longer than planned? Could I leave to go back to my job? Prior to January these questions would be totally bonkers, especially since I’m a born citizen from a long line of citizens. Now I have to wonder about it. Am I being unreasonable? If someone not born here is subjected to this simply to inflate the numbers of deported “illegal aliens” what makes me think I will be immune? Especially with the stories linking increased detention with being held in for-profit facilities and being denied rights that most would assume apply to individuals once they reach these shores.

Then I better watch it—I have brown eyes and brown hair and I tan easily; if I get too much sun I might be mistaken as Mexican.