To think it's crazy to be planning a holiday to the USA right now

[Fragmentedbrain]

I know border control there has never been a relaxed experience but the risk of being detained arbitrarily for weeks or longer seems unacceptably high now.

Last visit to San Fran in April for a trip booked pre orange cunt and immigration took far longer than previously.

We queued for hours, several people were in tears.

The immigration officials were friendly to me, but always have been at that particular airport. Every other entry point they have been surly and even rude.

We won't be back until this regime has passed.

Family members there now. No issues at all. Two on European passports and one on a UK passport.
Stop with the scaremongering to get your political point across, people can make up their own mind about where they want to go and support or not.

I mean... sure, you guys should run your own lives, but if your son is technically a US citizen then don't moan that he gets questioned about why he's not acting like one...

I feel like a lot of these stories seem to have explanations once you dig in.

I know a few people who have been recently. No problems at all at passport control and they had lovely holidays there.

The news

My kids are booked on a school trip to the US next year. We are absolutely torn whether to let them go. I'm 100% happy to sacrifice the deposit I've paid if it comes to it. It was booked pre Trump getting back in and I just can't imagine my young teens handling immigration questions. Arguably as white British kids on a school trip they may well breeze through, but both DH and I are becoming more and more opposed to it. Yes we're the grown ups and get to make the decision, but do we ruin this for them by saying no?! Or are we absolutely wrong and naïve and ridiculously blasé if we let them go? I am totally stuck.
It doesn't matter if people being detained for questioning is few and far between if it happens to someone you love, does it?!
And the other side of it is that whilst the few $'s we give to the US makes bugger all difference to them, I am morally opposed to giving a single $ to that man's regime so they really shouldn't go on that basis. But it's once in a lifetime etc etc.

Don’t send them. All it takes is one agent deciding they don’t look right, and they’re off to a camp.

Been in a couple of times on ESTA and it's been mostly like always.

Alright I've noticed border control directing some subtle questions to my 8 year old definitely trying to make sure v the story matches up. "You looking forward to seeing your grandparents?" type thing.

But I fly from Ireland so it's most likely a lighter touch as we do immigration I'm Dublin and land in the states in the domestic terminal

I have no desire to go there.

I’m going to be honest.

Yes, you will be ruining it for them by saying no.

I understand that you feel strongly about Donald Trump, but I assume that your kids are excited and looking forward to the trip.

They will be fine going through immigration. They will be accompanied by their teachers.

They will be perfectly safe.

They will have an amazing time in the US.

Dont take that experience from them.

If for some reason I definitely HAD to go there, (I wouldn't go unless unavoidable) I'd go via Dublin or Shannon, since they have pre clearance. Means that if there is any problem, they just send you back to the airport you flew in from. No detention facilities in Ireland. I've done it lots of times, and it's brilliant coming out of the US airport as if on a domestic flight. The US border control staff in Dublin are quite OK too, probably the charm of the Irish has rubbed off on them!

We contemplated a family holiday there next year but my son (18) flat-out refused to come. He's much more knowledgeable than we are in terms of geopolitics and said he thinks the USA is too unsafe and turned down a free holiday! So that was that.

I've been to the US recently...it was fine. I'd have no qualms about going again.

What a post. And these are the people who accuse other people of being conspiracy theorists.

Some people are being detained on suspicion. A Canadian woman was, and a Venezuelan man who was imprisoned and beaten for days in El Salvador. Just for being Venezuelan. They said he had links to a gang. He didn't. It is quite a scary place right now.

This thread reminds me of the posters worrying about war, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
If you are white, you won't have any issues. If African, it depends. If you appear to be Muslim, name, origin, appearance etc, then you may be scrutinised. Children on a school trip are fine.
Surely people have watched the border force/nothing to declare tv series? Australia have always asked for accommodation/enough funds/reason to return, or they detain and deport. Canada is very aggressive on TV. The Irish version is like a comedy skit in comparison.

I wouldn't worry too much about the immigration questions. I was on a school trip in the states when they found Osama Bin Larden and security was whacked right up. Each one of us got questioned as we went through but it was fine, not really scary or anything. They will have accommodation booked for every night presumably so I doubt they will be bothered much by the staff unless pissing about.

My experience on going through immigration in the US is that it is no different to going through immigration anywhere else.

DS returned from a trip in June.all good no problems at all.visiting Florida Disney parks.i done think all families are going to suddenly cancel trips somehow!

What an odd comment. Surely people can choose how to order their lives in the way that suits them?

But if he's never taken up his citizenship, applied for a US passport and never lived in the US, why does he have to act like a US citizen?

There was one poor bloke who travelled from Australia I think. He got detained and deported because he’d had the temerity to take a cheap flight via China.
i won’t be visiting.

Went to Disney World with the kids a month ago, going back in March. Absolutely no problems at all. Immigration was fast as usual and the staff courteous. We go to Disney every year and have noticed no difference. Went to New York before Trump got his second term and the immigration were cunts and made half the English women cry with their rudeness and insistence on demanding immigration paperwork that we did not need or have. Recently several people from my team went to Miami for work, one Lithuanian, one English, one from Holland and one French/Vietnamese. No issue at all.

No.

I last went through in March. I had my passport checked and was fingerprinted. They didn’t even ask for DH’s passport.