# Homeland security deports British twenty-somethings based on "joke" tweets **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 30, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223 "2012-01-30T20:35:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/61 "2012-01-31T04:15:49Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Due process is not applicable here. There were not charged with any crime, and no foreigner has a right to enter the US. > > How does everyone here know that these guys posed no threat? Because they were white, non-Muslims? We don’t know anything about these guys, and I don’t know that it’s worth DHS’s time to try and clear them. All we know is the reasons that DHS gave for tossing them out. Reasons which were laughable on their face, and shows that DHS is so out of touch that they waste their time on frivolous tweets. They posed no threat because there has been no evidence presented whatsoever that they posed any threat. Unless you want to posit that DHS had “secret information” and the tweets were just a clever cover for them. I don’t think you want to go that route. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/62 "2012-01-31T04:27:52Z")
There was no credible terrorist threat to the US here, and anyone who thinks there was need to report for reeducation. However, I wouldn’t put it past those two UK scallywags to at least try and disinter Ms. Monroe. So is preventing possible criminal (not terrorist) behaviour also part of the purview of homeland security? The funny (or not) thing is, immigration doesn’t have to give a reason for not allowing someone in, so all this event accomplished was to warn people - “If you are planning nefarious activities in the US, please be careful not to discuss on the net because we are watching there (if you didn’t know already)”. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/63 "2012-01-31T05:01:29Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > The funny (or not) thing is, immigration doesn’t have to give a reason for not allowing someone in, so all this event accomplished was to warn people - “If you are planning nefarious activities in the US, please be careful not to discuss on the net because we are watching there (if you didn’t know already)”. Well, it didn’t even accomplish that. It just encouraged tourists to spend their money elsewhere. LA might be fun, but there are plenty of other cities across the world for British tourists to spend their beer money. It’s not like these guys were planning any nefarious activity. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/64 "2012-01-31T06:41:41Z")
When this sort of thing happens, who foots the bill for their plane fare back home? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/65 "2012-01-31T06:54:05Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > When this sort of thing happens, who foots the bill for their plane fare back home? In this case, they’d have bought return tickets, so they’d already have paid it. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/66 "2012-01-31T07:09:31Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Due process is not applicable here. There were not charged with any crime, and no foreigner has a right to enter the US. > > How does everyone here know that these guys posed no threat? Because they were white, non-Muslims? We don’t know anything about these guys, and I don’t know that it’s worth DHS’s time to try and clear them. The point is they posed no threat on the basis they were detained for. Using your argument, everyone entering the USA should be detained because no one here knows if they’re a potential terrorist. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/67 "2012-01-31T07:23:29Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > maybe someone can splain something to me? Exactly how did the TSA discover the tweets? did they confiscate their phones or surf the net looking for any mention of a desecration of our most sacred American icon, Marilyn Monroe. The US spends somewhere in the order of $130 to $200 billion on the Deparment of Homeland Security, NSA, and TSA (the NSA does not report a budget, so that is estimated, and a number of DHS items are supposedly filed under other budgets). The 3 work closely together. So, for example, the TSA is aware of every passenger on planes coming to the US. This list is cross referenced with the incredibly vast amounts of data built up on individual web and voice traffic worldwide, through Echelon and other systems. For obvious reasons the exact methods these systems use for marked information to be flagged/recorded is kept highly secret, but the usual theories are searches for key phrases (such as Destroy America, etc) then marking an individual for full monitoring. Alternatively, it’s possible you’re just recording everything for a period of time. Who knows, you’re spending a fuckton of money on this, so the amount of processing/recording available could be off the charts. So, just to recap, a level of expenditure that exceeds the budget for the apollo missions has enabled America to bounce two idiot teenagers at the door. I’ve always been curious as to just how your politicians managed to sale this setup past you? I mean, Republicans should be furious at the amount of government expenditure and snooping, Democrats should be furious at the intrusion into civil liberties and privacy. There have been absolutely sod all demonstrable successes of these agencies. Really, could someone please explain this to me? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/68 "2012-01-31T07:23:44Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > In this case, they’d have bought return tickets, so they’d already have paid it. Their return tickets would not be for immediately after arrival. A friend of mine was refused entry at Houston airport - for entirely legitimate immigration reasons, rather than spurious knee-jerk panic - and the repatriation cost was charged over and above the cost of his return ticket, and even though he flew economy he was charged first class price. Took him years to pay off. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/69 "2012-01-31T08:52:22Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I don’t know that DHS screwed up. It’s not trying to have zero false positives when it comes to detecting terrorism. It’s trying to have zero false negatives. In that case, some level of false positives is desirable. If terrorists know that all they have to do is use quotes from American TV to avoid detection, that gives them an easy method to do so. I don’t see that we’re losing much by not having the type of tourists visit here who don’t know that it’s stupid to discuss destroying America before they travel here. FFS, you’re actually defending the DHS here? Those tweets were not remotely threatening. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/70 "2012-01-31T09:03:38Z")
This is a profoundly perfect argument for the immediate abolition of the particular branch of DHS responsible. I think Congress should pass a law immediately voiding that office and giving the rest of its budget for the year to these two young persons as compensation. I’m not being facetious, either. I do not suffer fools with badges. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/71 "2012-01-31T09:33:42Z")
it seems unlikely that these particular fools would have to suffer anything for their actions though. why would the situation improve if it is a case of better safe than sorry for these officials, especially if there are no consequences? ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/72 "2012-01-31T10:41:11Z")
I like how the DHS report keeps referring to the “Tweeter” service. It’s like a parody of out-of-touch bureaucrats who don’t quite get kids these days. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/73 "2012-01-31T10:50:58Z")
He looks like a total dork. Obviously he should never have been admitted in the first place. The girl can pass. Barely. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/74 "2012-01-31T11:28:58Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > I like how the DHS report keeps referring to the “Tweeter” service. It’s like a parody of out-of-touch bureaucrats who don’t quite get kids these days. Heaven forbid they find out I’ve routinely shot at American soldiers online in MW3. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/75 "2012-01-31T11:38:03Z")
I can believe they gave her a full body search, but doing so on the basis of her tweeting about digging up Marilyn Monroe… that’s just gross and a really unpleasant abuse of power. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/76 "2012-01-31T11:54:34Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > Which leads to the second problem: if I have to closely monitor my online output in the weeks and months prior to a trip to the US to spend my tourist dollars, chances are I won’t bother. I’ll just go to Australia, or Canada, or Germany, or France, or…well, pretty much anywhere that won’t treat me like Ernst Stavro Blofeld just because I expressed a desire to get drunk in LA. Agreed. It’s the same reason I don’t plan to go to China anytime soon. There are plenty of things about the US (and China) I’d like to see, but there are plenty of other things in the world I’d rather see if I can do it without trying to avoid the Gestapo. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/77 "2012-01-31T12:04:25Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I don’t see that we’re losing much by not having the type of tourists visit here who don’t know that it’s stupid to discuss destroying America before they travel here. You don’t encourage a massive tourism infrastructure to benefit from their intelligence. You encourage a massive tourism infrastructure because you need their money. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/78 "2012-01-31T12:05:29Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Let this be, as they say, a teachable moment. Don’t make tweets about destroying America as you are flying in here. Otherwise, enjoy your stay! Or, feck it let’s go somewhere else instead. A conversation I have heard more than once when people were thinking about going to The States. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/79 "2012-01-31T12:07:19Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > When this sort of thing happens, who foots the bill for their plane fare back home? They’re put on an available plane, and then invoiced for it later. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/80 "2012-01-31T12:18:11Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I don’t see that we’re losing much by not having the type of tourists visit here who don’t know that it’s stupid to discuss destroying America before they travel here. I’m not sure it was “stupid”. It might not have been prudent, but I’d rather not see a world where making such jokes is “stupid” because we’re all so accepting of the government’s overreaction. Also, they weren’t discussing destroying America, whether they said “destroy America” or not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223.md?page=5)