> "placed in a cell"
I think the title is deficient and should be based on this higher-weighted fact, over the weaker phrasing "refused entry".
"Tourist jailed without trial for possessing political cartoon"
It is worth noting that the US has been doing digital device searches coming up to twenty years now. I had my phone searched back in the early 2000s, and my most recent US Visa required me to list all social media accounts.
I've even read (but not experienced) reports of GrayKey or UFED being used to download someone's unlocked phone for offline analysis also. Your choices at the border are either: Unlock your phone and MAYBE get let in, or refuse which is best case a guaranteed entry refusal or worse case a 5 ban (for "non-cooperation" as inadmissibility reason).
The US (and UK) treat non-citizens terribly at the border; even with zero history or justification. It is even worse for non-white Europeans.
> He claims he was then strip-searched, forced to give blood samples, a facial scan and fingerprints.
> "Later I was taken back in, and the situation got even worse. I was pushed up against a wall and was strip-searched with a lot of force. They were incredibly harsh and used physical force the whole time," he claimed.
> "I felt completely devastated and broke down, and was close to crying several times. I was on the verge of panic.
That sounds worse than being denied entry.
This story sounded a little suspicious, or at least incomplete. It never mentioned why he was singled out by the border agent. Also, ICE would probably not have been involved at all.
I looked up the article in Norwegian Reddit and someone posted a link to this person's Youtube channel where he shoots guns and (apparently, as I don't speak the language) has made comments about the President. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC68cjx7WTYtXGhC3rLD3N4A
This could be the long arms of Palantir scanning social media and identifying him as a person of interest.
But also interesting is the response that Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs put out (I checked, this was in response to his specific case):
> Entry regulations can change at short notice, and it is the traveller's responsibility to have valid documents and be familiar with the current entry regulations. It is the immigration authorities upon arrival who decide whether you are rejected at the border.
Which seems to hint that the subject arrived in the US without proper paperwork.
I think the other story from earlier this week makes a better anchoring point for discussion[0], thought it's obvious why it was less successful (long-form New Yorker article vs. one funny picture—the funny picture *usually* wins. This is the internet). It's a lot clearer fact-pattern:
>"“Look, we both know why you are here,” the agent told me. He identified himself to me as Adam, though his colleagues referred to him as Officer Martinez. When I said that I didn’t, he looked surprised. “It’s because of what you wrote online about the protests at Columbia University,” he said."
[0] https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/how-my-reporting-on-... ("How My Reporting on the Columbia Protests Led to My Deportation")
A teacher in school told me about the time they visited East Germany. Armed guards poked though his luggage. It's a slippery slope toward fascism.
I vote for a campaign to make sure every single entrant has this meme on their phone.
Hmmm, in what other country is it a punishable offence to make fun of its dear leaders? Thailand? North Korea? Myanmar?
Like it or not, these countries are who you are being compared to.
Let me just point out that the only source we have for this story is one angry Norwegian.
The only verified fact is that he was denied entry.
Does even China does that? Go through pics on your personal device at the border? Refuse entry over memes.
My employer has had a "no visiting the US with your real hardware, get a burner phone / a burner laptop from our IT department" for years now. The only other countries that have that kind of rule are Myanmar and Iran.
The US is not a friendly country, not even to allies.
I had planned a trip that included the US for this summer, but the fact that they can demand the password for my devices is the main reason im not going. Having to wipe devices before travel and having to download data again because people dont respect privacy and others suck.
The fact that you have to get approved before traveling(that is fine), and then can be denied entry when you arrive for no logical reason is absurd. Visiting the US is simply not worth the risk and hassle.
Its crazy when you expect your privacy to be more respected in China.
The US is becoming more and more like the Soviet union was at some point - truly authoritarian. The same would possibly also happen in China of you had a picture of Xi Jinping. It's fascinating that "the land of the free" has come to this.
Is this a reputable source? Is it a coincidence that the subject shares the name Mads Mikkelsen, or is this just bad reporting?
The other picture showed Mads with a wooden pipe which he had made years prior
This is really why. Any evidence or suspicion of drug use or paraphenalia is a major offense. Even it they attempted to justify or explain it, its a major rejection criteria. Ive heard of several denials for suspicions of marijuana use, "DUDE WEED" memes and the like. They are really going hard on anything that looks like illicit substance use.
USA is a country I have always wanted to visit. No more. I will never set foot in your country simply because I refuse to deal with your border force. There are plenty of other countries out there that won't treat me like a criminal. Have you ever dealt with Japanese border staff? They could hardly be more grateful to welcome you.
Jeez...is the current administration that sensitive to criticism? I wonder if this comment will come back to haunt me some day.
from the article:
> "They threatened me with a minimum fine of $5,000 or five years in prison if I refused to provide the password to my phone."
this isn't real/legal/enforceable (as the law currently stands) is it? how does one protect ourselves against this turn of events upon entry when the immigration officer's claim fails the smell test?
I’m no fan of the current administration but this is one person’s account so inherently 1 sided. I just flew in from Europe and most people were not searched. US border control don’t have time to systemically search the phones of all travelers. I’m guessing some other red flag triggered the questioning and phone search and denial (eg no return ticket or accommodation booked).
Lots of other countries to explore. I'll revisit this in 4 years by then we'll also know if US democracy is still a thing
Looking further into the story from other sources commenting and there are no other corroborating sources.
Have been lied to too many times by the media with stories like these to believe them at first glance.
Surprised this story has not been flagged as it's essentially political flamebait - an uncorroborated, unverifiable account from a single person trashing the current US administration and causing everyone to pile on their hot takes and equally unverifiable and possibly embellished anecdotes.
That’s not JD Vance it’s Marc Andreessen!
I kind of get all the other stuff, horrid, yes, but ok: US is a barbarian state.
But what is it with refusing water? Hydration is extremely important. I'm never voluntarily going near any situation which could result in me being refused water.
I used to travel all over the world from mid 90's to late 00's. Including about once a month to the US from Europe and Asia.
I am French, white, blue-eyed, it was business travel in business or first class.
I never understood why the US border was so hostile to visitors. Equal to the Russian border if not worse.
The US used to be an immigrants country, built by these immigrants. So why the hostility against foreigners? Their parents or grand parents were in the same spot, usually way worse wealth-wise.
Middle East entries were the best - sometimes slow, chaotic but always enjoyable. Europe was with bored agents who did not give a shit.
After one last trip my children begged for (the landscapes in the US are indeniably wonderful) I stopped going to the US, mostly because of a vague fear of being arrested for no reason. I felt like in a dictatorship country (but worse than in the ME where there predicability).
In Europe you can get in trouble, but it is soft. You have to fight the bureaucracy but that's more or less all.
Going to the USA as a tourist might be the most stupid action that one can make at this time. Unless you have a dying mother or father, there is absolutely no reason to visit this country. It reminds me of the tourists that used to go to North Korea for fun some years ago, it never was a good idea.
Obviously if it is true this is ridiculous and condemnable but it would be nice to have more supporting evidence than this report.
Isn't it interesting how this post has more votes than anything else on the first page, is one hour old, and is currently on page 4. Seems like there's some interesting censorship going on in this website outside the consistent flagging of material deemed wrong-think.
The job of border control people is risky as hell. Let in the wrong person, and they’ll trace it back to you. Deny the right person and you can spin it as patriotism.
There’s no recourse if you’re uncertain. You can’t wave over a manager - you’re expected to process the huge queue with more piling in all day.
You work multiple long shifts per week. In a single shift you make thousands of decisions with huge impact to your life going forward - huge downsides for mistakes.
When you make 1000 decisions in a shift, even a 0.1% error rate is one wrong decision per shift!
And even if you are a nice person, you need to keep your job. When your biggest boss has an unsympathetic streak, you tip more into “my mistakes will be punished” mode.
Update: this story was debunked and is false, according to CBP directly:
Remember that talk about fake candidates from north korea which will immediately fall off the interview when you ask them "how fat is kim jong un"?
I have a new one for american applicants - how fat is JD Vance??
> "They threatened me with a minimum fine of $5,000 or five years in prison if I refused to provide the password to my phone."
I would write a witty message about how it seems like a good idea to put your phone in the carry-on luggage, but given they now ask for social media handles I don't think I will
Should I start putting my phone in checked baggage? Is that allowed with the batteries and stuff? I guess I can carry a cheap older smartphone with a burner number for the actual flight.
land of the free
This feels like a made up story just like so many other stories that get published to scare people from visiting China, India, Mexico, Columbia, etc.
If Monty Python would be active today, this headline could have been a summary of a sketch of theirs.
US politics is outpacing satire at an unprecedented ratio.
ICE? I would have expected this to be handled by CBP.
Based on the amount of vance memes in my photo reel, I would be sent to Guantanamo bay.
This guy was certainly flagged before he got on the plane in Norway. The US has data sharing agreements with lots of countries. His online behaviour was already known. The Trump administration changed the filters for what they're looking for in people's profiles. This guy fit.
If you are going to upset the empire with your on and offline behaviour, you better practice solid information hygene.
The difference between the US and North Korea is that there are Westerners who think they can travel to the US without risking getting harassed for apparently having mocked the administration of the country.
As someone who supported the current administration primarily due to their stated position on protecting free speech and fighting censorship, I find this story disgusting. I consider our First Amendment here in the U.S. to be the best and most unique thing about our country. I hated watching previous administrations step all over it, but in my opinion, the current administration is already proving to be objectively worse for the simple fact that they pretended to actually care about free speech only to pretty quickly start cracking down on speech they don’t like (e.g., see the Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk cases—Öztürk’s case, in particular, is extremely egregious). As frustrating as it was when the Biden regime was cracking down on speech they didn’t like, at least they didn’t pretend to actually care about free speech. Running on a free speech platform and then implementing North Korea-style speech policies is such a massive betrayal.
On a separate note, border agents being able to force you (anyone, including U.S. citizens) to give them access to your devices has been a problem for a long time and certainly should be illegal. When traveling internationally, you should either (1) leave your personal devices behind or (2) back up your personal devices to an encrypted drive (a tiny SD Card is ideal) and factory reset them. I know the EFF has been fighting that issue for a while and I’m hoping that at some point in the near future, border agents will be prohibited from forcing folks to give access to their devices.
Is this the visitor's own take on what happened? Or did they tell him "you're denied entry because of your JD Vance meme"? Per the article they also asked him a bunch of other things like about right wing terrorism. Maybe his answers sucked? Maybe he was being evasive?
There was the case a few months ago of a Canadian lady being detained and denied entry "for no reason", and then it turned out she wanted to work in the US while on a tourist visa, and also was attempting to evade border patrol by flying to Mexico and entering via the southern border instead of the northern border or at an airport, where she had previously been denied admittance.
So much from the Greatest Republic on Earth
The US is gone. Stay away!
Is that the only reason why entrance was denied?
Is this story real? I just checked, and nope, it's not April 1 yet.
Does anyone here have addition information?
I’d prefer a meme of Wilfred The Dog JD Vance…the bald one is creepy!
I have a question, what if you show up with a freshly restored phone, or a dumb phone, or no phone at all? What if you're like me and have closed all of your social media accounts except Linked-in, that you're only on because you have to be?
Would you be looked at with suspicion at this point?
"Comedy is legal again"
Actually, comedy is specifically illegal now
I hope liking every episode of puppetregime is allowed
Cowardly, weak, and pathetic are the only attributes you can use to describe this behavior. I'm not saying this in order to "get a rise" or "inflame" a discussion here, but how can anyone really justify this?
https://x.com/CBP/status/1937651325354795444
> Fact Check: FALSE
> Mads Mikkelsen was not denied entry for any memes or political reasons, it was for his admitted drug use.
> Mads Mikkelsen
Small world?
Charlie Hebdo
Article fails to explain why the image of him with a wooden pipe he made was so triggering to the border patrol agents.
Why is this even on HN?
I don’t understand why progressive people who are against body shaming and judging people by appearances suddenly don’t give a shit about their values at all the second it’s a human they don’t like. Don’t get me wrong, Trump et all fucking suck, but it doesn’t excuse things like fat shaming
tl:dr; remove memes before entering to the US. welcome to the most free country in the world.
> Mathias Rongved, a spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned fellow Norwegians that it is their duty to be clued up on US regulations before entering the country. "Most trips to the US go without any particular problems," he said.
> "Entry regulations can change at short notice, and it is the traveller's responsibility to have valid documents and be familiar with the current entry regulations. It is the immigration authorities upon arrival who decide whether you are rejected at the border. Norwegian authorities cannot intervene in this decision.
At least he was not detained and interrogated for it. Oh, wait...
Wonder what the "political correctness is bad" "nobody is allowed to crack jokes anymore" "cancel culture is out of control" crowd will say about this one...
lmao no shot this actually happened, or at least the meme was not the reason he was denied entry
Mads Mikkelsen? I'm very skeptical that this is real, and kind of disappointed that HN is being so credulous.
you people have been had... RTFA... a tourist "claims" this happened. The tourist name is Mads Mikkelsen??? The dude has the same name as the fucking actor??? Really??? Seriously people, learn when things smell of bullshit and when it doesn't.
What the hell is happening to our country :(
His name was "Mads Mikkelsen", like the actor? Either he gave a fake name or this story is made up.
To play devils advocate: I have a feeling the rules around what's allowed on social media according to these new rules are pretty vague and so whoever vetted this ended up being the judge in this case. I doubt jd vance made some memo about not allowing bald vance meme sharers from entering the country.
All the bickering about the validity of this specific story and the “if you don’t like it don’t ever leave home to go anywhere ever” misses the crux of the issue that these articles are trying to raise:
* Do we agree that a law enforcement arm of any country should be allowed to perform warrantless searches of electronic devices?
* Do we find it acceptable that persons with critical views are denied entry to countries that profess protection of speech for its citizens?
* If we find either of the above objectionable, what should we be doing to stop it?
The reality is that this is on the rise, not just in the USA but globally, and we should be having frank discussions on whether this is acceptable or not given its repercussions.
For context, despite my critique of an unnamed EMEA government, they’ve happily let me into their country repeatedly to do work for an employer, associate with my colleagues, and perform volunteer work within its borders. On the flip side, I have serious doubts about my ability to enter authoritarian regimes like China because of my outspoken critique of government policies, regardless of my intentions within their borders.
This [broader issue] is what we should be discussing, not nuanced specifics over a single incident.