# Children's Author Mem Fox detained and interrogated at LAX **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-author-mem-fox-detained-and-interrogated-at-lax/781598 "2017-03-07T02:59:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-author-mem-fox-detained-and-interrogated-at-lax/781598/1 "2017-03-07T02:59:35Z")
☹ (Mods, feel free to move this if you think it fits better in another forum) “The irony isn’t lost on Mem Fox. The author of books advocating tolerance and acceptance was detained by U.S. immigration officials as she arrived in America to give a talk about the importance of tolerance and acceptance . . . . She was held for just under two hours, she says, and aggressively questioned about her visa status. “I was going for such a good reason,” she says of the trip, noting it would have been her 117th visit to the United States. After her experience at the airport, she says, she is unlikely to return.” > **[Beloved children’s author speaks out about her detainment at U.S. airport](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/beloved-childrens-author-speaks-out-about-her-detainment-at-us-airport/2017/02/26/236ce422-fc5c-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?tid=pm_entertainment_pop&utm_term=.f30259f3e8de)** > > ‘I was so frightened,” said Mem Fox, who was here to speak at a conference about tolerance. > **[Children's Book Author Mem Fox On Being Detained At the U.S. Border: 'This...](https://people.com/books/childrens-book-author-mem-fox-on-being-detained-at-the-u-s-border-this-has-turned-me-into-a-revolutionary/)** > > Mem Fox protests after she's detained at the U.S. border > **[US apologises to 'shocked' Mem Fox after LA detention](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-25/mem-fox-detained-at-los-angeles-airport-by-us-officials/8303366)** > > Australian children's author Mem Fox has made more than 100 trips to the US over the years, but now says she is unlikely to ever go there again after her wrongful detainment by immigration officials at LA Airport earlier this month. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-author-mem-fox-detained-and-interrogated-at-lax/781598/2 "2017-03-07T03:27:16Z")
Previous thread. [The Unitd States of Cunts](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=820071) Granted, the title didn’t exactly hint at the specific content. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-author-mem-fox-detained-and-interrogated-at-lax/781598/3 "2017-03-07T22:56:48Z")
[Moderating] Although there’s already another thread, I think we’ll leave this open for anyone who wants a non-Pit discussion of the event. If it turns out that nobody wants a non-Pit discussion, we’ll close this or let it wither. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-author-mem-fox-detained-and-interrogated-at-lax/781598/4 "2017-03-07T23:26:56Z")
Whenever I hear about something like this, I always think of this: > [@](#): > > The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childrens-author-mem-fox-detained-and-interrogated-at-lax/781598/5 "2017-03-08T00:36:05Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Previous thread. > [The Unitd States of Cunts](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=820071) > Granted, the title didn’t exactly hint at the specific content. Thanks for the link; my search didn’t turn up anything and you’re right, the thread title is hardly transparent. Also I tend to avoid the Pit. > [@Chronos](#): > > [Moderating] > > Although there’s already another thread, I think we’ll leave this open for anyone who wants a non-Pit discussion of the event. If it turns out that nobody wants a non-Pit discussion, we’ll close this or let it wither. Thanks Chronos. I do hope that a civil non-Pit discussion is possible especially since the Pit thread has me gritting my teeth! Mem Fox is an “old biddy” according to one of the posts? Sexist and ageist much? I saw the Washington Post headline and couldn’t believe it when I clicked and found out who it was. I read her books to my kids when they were toddlers. She may not be a celebrity in the US like she is in Australia but that’s not the point anyway. As she says in the People article: “They made me feel like such a crushed, mashed, hopeless old lady and I am a feisty, strong, articulate English speaker,” she said. “I kept thinking that if this were happening to me, a person who is white, articulate, educated and fluent in English, what on earth is happening to people who don’t have my power?”