The Guardian: Teacher, Children’s Author and Citizen Stopped at US Border

The Trump administration promised extreme vetting to prevent terrorism. A first step was an attempt to ban travelers from seven Muslim nations, quickly blocked by courts. Still, travelers describe intrusive questions, delays and rude behavior from border agents, the Guardian reports. A British Muslim schoolteacher, traveling to New York for a school trip was in his words, “treated like a criminal,” detained and removed from a plane in Iceland. “The trip proceeded as planned but pupils and colleagues …were left shocked and distressed after the maths teacher, who had valid visa documentation, was escorted from the aircraft by security personnel,” reports Steven Morris. Agents detained US citizen Muhammad Ali Jr. and repeatedly asked about his religion. Agents also detained Australian children’s author Mem Fox, questioning her visa category. Fox describes a crowded waiting room, where occupants could not use their phones and poorly trained agents shouted questions. “The belligerence and violence of it was really terrifying,” writes the author who was on her 117th visit to the United States. “I had to hold the heel of my right hand to my heart to stop it beating so hard…. In that moment I loathed America. I loathed the entire country…. I got over that hatred within a day or two. But this is not the way to win friends…” – YaleGlobal