# 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:** 5
**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, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/81 "2012-01-31T12:29:40Z")
I wonder how much work it would be hack twitter and facebook with trojans spouting similar anti-american statements, just to see if they could basically flood the entire DHS web monitoring setup? Considering, for example, Facebooks poor record for trojans - [Facebook 'virus' shows hardcore porn and violent images - BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15740798) - it should certainly be possibly. Get a few million hacked accounts broadcasting nonsense, and things should get really tricky. Just saying. If terrorists want to distrupt travel in America, here’s one way to do it - and it’s using your own security system against you. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/82 "2012-01-31T13:25:20Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > you do make an inordinate amount of effort specifically trying to persuade us to holiday over there with a strongly implied assumption you won’t laugh and say “hah! You just wasted a months’ pay on a plane ticket! Now go back home!” based on a trivial tweet. > > I mean, if that’s the deal, we’ll spend our money in China instead. They have cool old stuff for us to look at. A-men! \ A long time ago, in a time far, far away (_i.e._ before 9/11, before mass gropings and nude scanners in the airports, before rampant paranoia apparently became the flair _du jour_ for US officials), I thought about traveling USA. Visiting places I didn’t get to see when I worked there. Given the recent developments, I go out of my way to avoid even business trips over there, and the only dreams I have about visiting as a tourist are nightmares. \ ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/83 "2012-01-31T13:46:57Z")
> [@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. I am judging on the information presented to me. if there were additional information showing that these people were a thread, I would evaluate that also. It’s not worth DHS’s time to try and clear them? Isn’t that their job, to figure out who presents a threat and who doesn’t? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/84 "2012-01-31T14:51:16Z")
Yeah, but people get refused entry to countries for bogus reasons every day of the damn week. Ask any Canadian who’s been denied access to the US or vice versa. They are often for stupid and silly reasons. I don’t see how it can be avoided when so many pass over the borders on any given day, and the enforcers are only human. Shit happens people, every damn day. This made the news because it happened it America and it involved tweets. That’s it. It’s throw away news at it’s finest. Were they in the wrong? Most likely. Is it the end of the world? No. Should the Brits be pissed, hell yes. I wouldn’t blame them if they never returned. But it’s not an international scandal, or proof of gestapo, sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/85 "2012-01-31T15:12:37Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > 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. Honestly, that’s probably a better idea anyway. America is pretty cool - I like living here. But when you think of all the places in the world to check out, I’m not sure the US should be that high up on the list. It’s relatively pricey, everything is really spread out, it doesn’t have the history or culture of many other options, and it isn’t “next to” many other places to make for a good combo tour. The US really isn’t a tourist economy. ---
**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, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/86 "2012-01-31T15:21:10Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Honestly, that’s probably a better idea anyway. America is pretty cool - I like living here. But when you think of all the places in the world to check out, I’m not sure the US should be that high up on the list. It’s relatively pricey, everything is really spread out, it doesn’t have the history or culture of many other options, and it isn’t “next to” many other places to make for a good combo tour. > > The US really isn’t a tourist economy. I don’t think places like Florida, California and New York are short of international tourists. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/87 "2012-01-31T15:44:49Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I don’t think places like Florida, California and New York are short of international tourists. I don’t disagree at all, but if you compared the relative importance of tourism to the overall economy in the US to the relative importance of tourism in other countries, I believe that you would find that the US is not a “tourist economy.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/88 "2012-01-31T15:51:25Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Honestly, that’s probably a better idea anyway. America is pretty cool - I like living here. But when you think of all the places in the world to check out, I’m not sure the US should be that high up on the list. It’s relatively pricey, everything is really spread out, it doesn’t have the history or culture of many other options, and it isn’t “next to” many other places to make for a good combo tour. Pricey? What are you on? It’s pricey here compared to, say, China, but everything is incredibly cheap compared to most places - including the UK, whence came our erstwhile Monroe-diggers. Anyway, I agree that America need not be on everyone’s top ten list. However, as a place to visit if you can only afford to go to one place, it’s not a bad choice. ---
**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, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/89 "2012-01-31T15:55:17Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Honestly, that’s probably a better idea anyway. America is pretty cool - I like living here. But when you think of all the places in the world to check out, I’m not sure the US should be that high up on the list. It’s relatively pricey, everything is really spread out, it doesn’t have the history or culture of many other options, and it isn’t “next to” many other places to make for a good combo tour. > > The US really isn’t a tourist economy. Well I for one loved America. The people I met were fantastic and the place was great. Driving through a collage town with Sweet Home Alabama playing on the radio was really cool for someone who grew up looking at movies and fantasising about America. New York is amazing as are so many other places. My country is very pro America for pretty obvious reasons but I’ve heard people say they were turned off visiting America because of stories like this. Shit does stick. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/90 "2012-01-31T15:55:41Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > You aren’t embarassed that the DHS is actually sending back young people making jokes via tweets, in the name of national security? I sure as hell am. I hate it that when traveling abroad I have to explain that while I’m from the US, I’m actually a decent guy. I either have to defend my nationality, or take the easy way out and claim to be Canadian. ETA: and then I have to pay $1.35 for a 1 Euro item. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/91 "2012-01-31T15:58:49Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Pricey? What are you on? It’s pricey here compared to, say, China, but everything is incredibly cheap compared to most places - including the UK, whence came our erstwhile Monroe-diggers. > > Anyway, I agree that America need not be on everyone’s top ten list. However, as a place to visit if you can only afford to go to one place, it’s not a bad choice. Yeah, I was thinking of places likes South America, China, Africa, India, Mongolia, Nepal, Southeast Asia, Russia, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, etc. Although I visited France, Iceland, and Italy last year and I didn’t find any of them to be that expensive compared to NY, Chicago, Miama, etc. My trip to Peru, however, was nice and cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/92 "2012-01-31T16:06:23Z")
Before we condemn everyone on this planet, we need to consider the possibility that this story is fiction, and a hoax. Robert X Cringley (a pseudonym), who writes a technical newsletter, [has this to say:](http://www.infoworld.com/t/cringely/you-have-the-right-remain-silent-twitter-185305?source=IFWNLE_nlt_notes_2012-01-30) > [@](#): > > … the story starts to sound just a little too outrageous to me. I can believe the DHS scans tweets and would stop someone who claimed to on a mission to “destroy America,” if only for questioning. (I’m not saying they should, I’m saying I believe they would.) The bit about looking for shovels? I am beginning to smell a rat. > > The story was produced by a press agency called Small World News Service – the U.K. equivalent of a wire service like AP or Reuters – that routinely sells oddball stories to the British press. I called SWNS, which confirmed it had sold the story and the photos to the Sun, the Mirror, and other U.K. tabloids. > > \ > > Regular readers will remember my blog post a few weeks back about the Daily Mail, which ran with a bogus story about [Rihanna’s Armani lingerie campaign being named “the sexiest ads of 2011” by Advertising Age.](http://adage.com/article/adages/ad-age-rihanna-s-armani-ad-sexiest-year/231851/) > > It turns out that story was made up wholesale by a husband-and-wife press agency, never fact checked, and never corrected after it was shown to be a fiction. No matter; it got scads of page views and lots of pickup, just as this story is getting. > > SWNS editor Andrew Young insists the story is accurate, so I’ll take him at his word. The bigger issue is surveillance of social media – a real and growing phenomenon. ---
**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, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/93 "2012-01-31T16:27:46Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > I don’t disagree at all, but if you compared the relative importance of tourism to the overall economy in the US to the relative importance of tourism in other countries, I believe that you would find that the US is not a “tourist economy.” I think it is more so than you do. We get ads over here all the time featuring minor US celebrities (an odd choice, because I never know who they are, except in one there’s a woman from the Golden Girls) which try very hard to encourage us to visit your country. Arnold Schwarzenegger was in one when he was still in politics, trying to persuade us to visit his state of California. But that’s just anecdotal, of course (just thought you might be interested that the phenomenon exists). A [wiki check](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_the_United_States), though, tells a story of tourism being the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd largest industry in a whopping 29 states, servicing over a \*billion \*visitors yearly. That makes tourists a not-insignificant fraction of your population at any given time. I think it’s very arguable that tourism is very important to the US economy. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/94 "2012-01-31T16:43:43Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > A [wiki check](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_the_United_States), though, tells a story of tourism being the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd largest industry in a whopping 29 states, servicing over a \*billion \*visitors yearly. That makes tourists a not-insignificant fraction of your population at any given time. > > I think it’s very arguable that tourism is very important to the US economy. That same article puts the revenue for international tourism at $122.7 billion dollars for 2007, whereas the US GDP was 13.995 trillion in that year, making international tourism revenue equal to a little less than 0.9% of overall GDP. > **[Data Commons](https://datacommons.org/)** > > Data Commons aggregates and harmonizes global, open data, giving everyone the power to uncover insights with natural language questions ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/95 "2012-01-31T17:01:27Z")
One percent is a fairly important chuck of the economy. ---
**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, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/96 "2012-01-31T17:12:35Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > That same article puts the revenue for international tourism at $122.7 billion dollars for 2007, whereas the US GDP was 13.995 trillion in that year, making international tourism revenue equal to a little less than 0.9% of overall GDP That’s ENORMOUS! 1% of a country’s GDP in a given industry is a whopping amount. I’d be amazed to find many industries of that scale in the US (car makers, probably, and some others). I happily admit I’m no economist, but when talking heads on the news talk about recessions they talk in terms of GDP shifts in that range. I did [Google this](http://www.web-books.com/eLibrary/NC/B0/B62/060MB62.html) although I’d rather an economist explain it to me in simple terms. But it says: “consider the decline in real GDP that occurred during the recession of 1990–1991. Real GDP fell 1.6% from the peak to the trough of that recession.” That’s just 1.6 from a prosperous peak to the depths of a recession’s trough. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/97 "2012-01-31T17:18:29Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > That same article puts the revenue for international tourism at $122.7 billion dollars for 2007, whereas the US GDP was 13.995 trillion in that year, making international tourism revenue equal to a little less than 0.9% of overall GDP. > > [Home - Data Commons](http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=ny_gdp_mktp_cd&idim=country:USA&dl=en&hl=en&q=us+gdp) Its not just tourism. Actions like this generally make people feel uncomfortable. Lets say that there is someone who is thinking about investing a not inconsiderable sum of money and is unsure whether to go to the US or say Canada or Mexico. He reads a story like this and thinks “okay, US is out, hell lots of my people are from the Mid East or India and they gave a higher chance of being harassed anyway. Hello, Montreal”. More and more international firms try to avoid travel to the US, for reasons like this. Its not going to be fatal or even a major problem for the economy as a whole. Buts its a nontrivial issue. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/98 "2012-01-31T17:19:10Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I, For One, Welcome Our New TSA Overlords > [@Magiver](#): > > maybe someone can splain something to me? Exactly how did the TSA discover the tweets? > > and did the actions of the TSA put these folks on a terrorist list? Who said anything about the TSA? What does the TSA have to do with CBP? > [@AK84](#): > > The two should thank their lucky stars theyvwere not born Muslims. They would have been sent to Gitmo at least. OTH! If the had been Irish of the republican persuasion… Yeaaaah, you just made that up entirely. Cite for a tourist being sent to GTMO? > [@foolsguinea](#): > > 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. You want to fire over 40,000 people that monitor the border for narcotics, human trafficking, foreign pests, illegal shipping, and terrorism? Wow, what a display of ignorance your post was. Perhaps you people don’t understand that refusal of entry is part and parcel of any nation’s customs and immigration policy. They all do it for a variety of reasons. There are thousands of people turned away from our borders annually, and there is no shortage of Americans denied entry to the UK. This happens all the time, everywhere in the world. Why are these two special? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/99 "2012-01-31T17:21:16Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > One percent is a fairly important chuck of the economy. Undoubtedly, but I don’t believe it makes the US a “tourist economy.” Take a look at some countries that I would, or might, classify as tourist econmomies: > [@](#): > > Tourism continues to dominate Antigua and Barbuda’s economy, accounting for nearly 60% of GDP For the Bahamas > [@](#): > > Tourism together with tourism-driven construction and manufacturing accounts for approximately 60% of GDP and directly or indirectly employs half of the archipelago’s labor force. British Virign Islands > [@](#): > > The economy, one of the most stable and prosperous in the Caribbean, is highly dependent on tourism generating an estimated 45% of the national income. Cayman Islands > [@](#): > > Tourism is also a mainstay, accounting for about 70% of GDP and 75% of foreign currency earnings. French Polynesia > [@](#): > > Tourism accounts for about one-fourth of GDP and is a primary source of hard currency earnings Greece > [@](#): > > Tourism provides 15% of GDP. Jamaica > [@](#): > > Tourism revenues account for roughly 10% of GDP Jersey (the old one) > [@](#): > > Tourism accounts for one-quarter of GDP Kiribati > [@](#): > > Tourism provides more than one-fifth of GDP. Maldives > [@](#): > > Tourism, Maldives’ largest economic activity, accounts for 28% of GDP Saint Martin > [@](#): > > The economy of Saint Martin centers around tourism with 85% of the labor force engaged in this sector. Samoa > [@](#): > > Tourism is an expanding sector accounting for 25% of GDP; 122,000 tourists visited the islands in 2007 > [@](#): > > Tourism is the primary economic activity, accounting for 80% of GDP and employment. [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2116.html](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2116.html) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223/100 "2012-01-31T17:21:45Z")
Think about the dip in the economy caused by a decline in airline travel and tourism after 9/11. Americans depend on this kind of thing. I don’t think it’s something we should brush off. And I also don’t agree that we should view it as “well, you have no _right_ to enter our country, so don’t whine if we don’t let you in.” We should feel obligated to treat all people seeking entry with rational and respectful decision-making. Capriciousness should not be acceptable just because the person in question is carrying a different passport. We should be respectful of their time, effort, and expense, and also the fact that upon entry they would contribute to our economy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-deports-british-twenty-somethings-based-on-joke-tweets/611223.md?page=6)