Is USA safe to visit?

[perellonuts]

I can’t even believe I’m asking this but is it safe to visit USA now? I’m concerned about the social media issue, I’m pretty sure I’ve liked one or two anti-trump posts each time I’ve doom scrolled since his first term. Could this be used against me? I definitely feel free speech is not tolerated there now. I’d be travelling with my neuro diverse son, age 7. He is perfectly capable with full autonomy and we travel a lot but being separated with no due process would be a disaster and scares the hell out of me. We’ve been invited to go to collect a prestigious award and they put you in a hotel for a few days etc. We have American friends and family and the first hand ICE stories are horrific.

A point vividly illustrated by multiple different headlines this morning.

I've not been back since they announced they were going to be looking into social media.

So one person that someone online says that they know went to Dubai. Not exactly indicative of widespread "I'm boycotting the US due to human rights so I'll send you a postcard from the UAE/China/El Salvador instead"

That is utter bollocks. The draconian approach exists because populists often declare groups of people to be common enemies in order to cement their grip upon power.

The human rights violations are egregious and in breach of both US and international law. There is no excuse for it. ICE resources were removed from complex investigations (the sort that actually snare criminals) and redeployed to pick on easy targets (like brown people minding their own business) in order to make the numbers look better and achieve the massive deportation targets.

I look forward to the day when Pam Bondi, Greg Bovino, Kristy Noem etc., plus the hired thugs on the ground see their day in court.

Maybe the authorities should try prosecuting those who employ people without confirming their right to work in the country - targetting the pimps in your analogy. It's much more effective than just lifting brown people from the streets at random, detaining them indefinitely and then either being forced to release them once things go public and ICE have to admit in court that they've no actual grounds, or just sticking them on a plane regardless of what a judge ordered.

If you'd like to see the US economy implodes overnight as the effect of worker shortages, tariffs and corruption hits, you're likely to get your wish.

If you didn't want to impoverish everyone then I'd recommend a phased reform to change the US economy from an oligarchy to something that is of benefit to everyone. You won't get that from Trump though.

You're being disingenuous if you think that one response in this thread is the only example of that.

@MrsTerryPratchett And OJ would cost $50 a carton

If orange juice would be unaffordable if businesses were forced to pay their workforce a fair wage and adhere to employment legislation, then perhaps you should reflect on the ethics of consuming orange juice that could only be made by immigrants working in substandard conditions.

Most people on this board won't understand the harm that is done by poor employment conditions, but as someone who has done a dirty, hands-on job, I can confirm that it ruins your life.

and you’d lose the almost $100 BILLION they pay in taxes.

(Putting aside the fact that I don't live in the US), I don't care.

@DdraigGoch The human rights violations are egregious and in breach of both US and international law. There is no excuse for it.

Around 12 million people are in the US illegally each year.

How is that acceptable?

If you applied for entry to a country and were refused, would you still try to enter? Would you overstay a visa? You wouldn't do that, because for any normal and sensible person, it's unthinkable to commit such a crime in a foreign nation.

So what on earth makes you think that 12 million people being present illegally in the US is not an issue?

It depends where you are but it’s safe enough even if they have a war criminal for a president.

Possibly as a result of this thread, I happened to see this clip of a USAian being rather taken aback at shopping in Tescos.

Key points are ludicrously low prices, and food labelling.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HNOP72MtrZA

Food prices in the US are INSANE!! I don’t know if they have got better in the last year but summer 2024 I could not beleive it!! My husband wanted to spend a month in America this year visiting our family and getting a lake house but have decided the grocery bills alone would bankrupt us. One family member got a chicken because eggs were so expensive.

Would you like to take a guess at what proportion of people who don't fancy the US in the current situation are people who would happily go off to a different consumerist oligarchy?

I think you are a bit confused. The issue is not "consumerism."

Around 12 million people are in the US illegally each year.
That's a dishonest phrasing which implies that there are 12 million arriving each year. Your later phrasing is more honest:
12 million people being present illegally

How is that acceptable?
How is it fucking acceptable to kidnap random people from the streets based purely on the colour of their skin, lock them up without access to a lawyer and deport them to a country they've never been to in their lives against judical instructions that nothing should be done until a court has been satisfied that the person actually is there illegally. Either everyone has due process, or no one has due process.

ICE aren't going after the bad guys. That involves work, investigations, actually putting officers into the dodgy bits of town. They're picking people up from their citizenship ceremonies - after someone has done things properly, has been through all of the hoops (green card etc.), their citizenship application has been approved and all that is left is the oath. ICE use these as easy pickings. They have been hanging around outside the courtrooms and immigration offices where people trying to do the right thing and apply for visas, green cards and citizenship go.

because for any normal and sensible person, it's unthinkable to commit such a crime in a foreign nation.
An "unthinkable" crime would be something like inciting an insurrection, launching a missile at an unarmed person who has been shipwrecked, raping a child, or falsely imprisoning thousands of people. No normal and sensible person would do such things, but apparently 77 million Americans are quite happy to vote for that. Overstaying a visa is utterly trivial by comparison.

So what on earth makes you think that 12 million people being present illegally in the US is not an issue?
I honestly couldn't give a shit. It's less than 4% of the population. With everything wrong with the world, do you seriously have this as your top concern? If someone commits an actual crime (being present illegally in a country is not a crime) then deal with them properly. 95% of the people picked up by ICE have no criminal past. Many of them aren't even illegal immigrants. Some are actual citizens - ICE will lift them anyway. Most are honest, hardworking, upstanding members of the community. More upstanding than the paedophile rapist-in-chief and the Proud Boys in ICE.

If you want fewer undocumented migrants arriving, how about you try not destabilising every country in Latin America? Venezuela is just the latest in a long list.

It's off my travel list.

My social media is pretty politics free but I have no wish to visit under the current regime and I do worry about the friends I have out there.

The issue is the oppressive oligarchy. The consumerism is what draws some people to Dubai - the same sort of people who are Vegas' bread & butter.

Asked and answered.

There never was a trip to America, was there, OP? This post was just an excuse for another Trump thread. As if we don't have enough of them.

Truth or fiction, the whole story deserves some kind of Pointless Windbaggery award. You've made yourself sound like the Queen cancelling a royal visit.

The events of the last 24 hours have shown us yet again how much respect this rogue state under its orange supremo has for the law.

You genuinely couldn't pay me enough money to set foot there.

It depends. Most tourists are likely to be fine. I'm friends with an academic who has published papers on fascism, who just cancelled a work trip for this coming spring, on the advice of their American counterparts.

It's not that the risk of being detained by ICE is huge, but that a risk of detainment now exists, where previously there was none.

I think the risk of detainment is still low, for what it's worth. That said, I completely understand anyone not traveling to the US for the foreseeable.

65% or more of New Yorkers are non-white. If you fly into JFK, you really are not going to be racially profiled as a non-white person.

OP, if you are genuinely concerned about the border and if you actually want to come to NYC, why haven't you responded to the people suggesting you fly from Dublin and avoid immigration in the US?

Agree this thread is very odd. I'm not convinced the op is an award winning academic tbh.

I too have my doubts 😄