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.

We won’t go while Trump is in office

I can confirm family members do indeed come to lunch packing guns in their handbags which I think is wild. We’re not going to see them so I’ll keep off that topic.

Hardly hysteria when my Californian friend, a US born citizen but with a Mexican appearance and surname, has been stopped by ICE and challenged as to whether she has a right to be in the US!
She had to do jury service recently and asked to be moved to a court nearer home so she didn’t have to risk driving further away.

Yes some people do. I was referring to the person who said 'every other person' in America is wandering around with a loaded gun. It is complete nonsense.

She’s in another country at university. Wild you think I can demand her to ditch her life and fly home to look after her sibling.

This makes me feel hugely uncomfortable.

I made mine private due to privacy concerns around an ex. I bet that's not an uncommon scenario!

I would not go in your shoes.

The border/ICE system is currently insane and completely dysfunctional.

There was a recent case of a British woman, married to a US citizen who didn’t update her visa paperwork in time (because she had a high risk pregnancy, difficult birth and then a newborn to deal with - I imagine we’ve all missed some paperwork in similar circumstances!). She attended a routine appointment when her baby was 6 months and they arrested her and kept her in detention, away from her baby, for 2 weeks. There is no humanity or common sense in the decisions they’re taking anymore,

Sadly with an Arabic surname they are going to look more closely at you, and they would have no humanity around separating you from your son and putting him in foster care if they detain you.

It’s just not worth the risk right now,

FWIW - we used to live in the USA and visited every year until this Trump term, it’s just not worth the risk now, we have an autistic 8 year old and are not risking putting him through a difficult/unpredictable border situation.

Many Americans are obsessed by the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment. Its in your face, you go the washroom block at a National Park and there is a reminder that you can’t take your gun in with you!
One record I saw said that there are 393 million firearms in civilian hands - works out to roughly 120 guns per 100 people.

I don’t think the proposed ESTA changes have been approved/implemented yet but if they are you would need to declare on application your social media accounts, private or not.

Tourist travel to the US hasn’t changed there are 100 direct flights a day from Heathrow alone you can apply for an ESTA as normal which lasts 2 yrs.

The Social Media scare applies to Working and Migrant visas, that has changed, visas granted previously have been cancelled and are being reviewed causing a lot of problems for would be workers and migrants

Trump has been accused of being a dictator, instead of going to the US you could go to Egypt, China, Dubai, Turkey, Thailand or many other states where human rights are far worse than the US. In fact even the UK visa system is far more restrictive than the US, try getting even a tourist visa from most African or Asian countries.

But it sounds like the award is for you, professionally; not your family, socially? So your husband and son could stay safely at home, while you travel solo to collect your award.

This is doable, if you wish, just not exactly the way you feel it should be.

There is plenty to say about Trump, and about entry to the USA under his administration, but you are conflating more than one issue here.

You could use your presence to note that you came alone due to worry about the border processes.

Yes I have American friends and family and very aware of the Second Amendment. Its odd though, don't you think, that in my 50 odd years of knowing Americans, visiting America I have not once known a person who wanders around with a loaded gun? The very existence of that sign suggests that there are gun controls, no? I.e. rules about where you can and cannot take guns? Think about the stats. Lots of people own lots of guns. Some of them own them for sport and hunting. They don't all wander around in their daily lives with a loaded gun. That leaves lots of normal people with no guns at all.

Wild you’re asking the internet whether you should go to America.

After reading stories about people getting turned around the border much more often, I'm not going anywhere near the US. There's no reason they shouldn't let me in but you never know.

I don’t think anyone can actually answer this for you. There is a chance that you will be pulled aside & questioned. There is even a chance that you could be refused entry.
We went to US last January, me on US passport & my DP on UK passport with ESTA. Passport control incredibly slow, I got through with no problem, but then had to wait a further 90 min, with no contact, for DP to clear. I did not enjoy this, and it felt terribly fraught.
In your situation, I would not go.

You have been very lucky - location plays a big factor. I’ve colleagues who drive with a gun in their car, take it the church with them and then back home to their families with young children - thankfully with a secure lock box.

Pre Trump we would cross the border weekly for lunch and shopping but no more.

The hysteria and nonsense on this thread. The proposed changes haven't happened yet and America is a big place; not everywhere is full of gun-toting lunatics. The idea that someone who is gay shouldn't visit NYC is the most batshit thing I've read this week.

Its completely hysterical. And people wonder how Trump has whipped people up into frothing lunatics.

I mean, the stats speak for themselves and I prefer not to take the risk, personally.

Some of these suggestions are ridiculous lol, obviously if your adult child could look after her sibling and you were happy with her doing it you’d have asked her.

Anyway Op I wouldn’t go, I do go to the U.S. regularly but I don’t have a child I’m traveling with.

I haven’t been since March and not sure when I’ll go again because I think things are getting worse and I have friends there actively telling me I shouldn’t visit because of what’s happened to them/their family. Eg, a Puerto Rican friend of mine in Texas was stopped by ICE before and is super anxious when I travel to the U.S. (even when I’m going to another state and not going to see her).

The chances are slim something will happen but it’s still a risk I wouldn’t take in your position.

It's off our list of places to visit.
I'm anti-Trump & his regime, I find it extremely worrying how they treats anyone who is different - women, LBGTQ+, anyone of colour.

The total disregard for the law is blatant & concerning.

I have no desire to visit such a country & neither has my European DH.

Yes, location is a factor which is why I said the OP should research and talk to contacts. As with any risk assessment. I dont think I have been lucky. My contacts (close friends and family) have lived across at least 10 states and none of them have felt the need to own a gun, let alone routinely carry one.

You are completely insane as are posters agreeing with you😂😂this place is always great for a laugh

I can see why you might comment on your own government but don't really get the obsession with Trump. There are so many nasty men in power to post about. Do you clog up your social media with all of them? If you haven't despised anyone quite as much since Thatcher, then you have missed a lot of news in the past few decades.

But they don't. That's a ridiculous analysis.