So I’ve been telling folks here that I won’t be travelling to or through the United States for the foreseeable future, because of concerns about how the new administration is treating immigrants, visa holders and visitors. Many of my friends and colleagues are cancelling trips, not attending conferences and changing travel plans to avoid the US entirely. Some here have called me an idiot for expressing this opinion.
Recently a couple from Calgary was transiting through Salt Lake Citywhile travelling from Mexico to Canada. They were taken aside before boarding, fingerprinted, photographed etc. before being allowed to board their flight to Canada.
Now this is all OK. Some have told them that this is “routine”, while others have said that in all their time travelling as Canadians to and through the US, this has never happened.
The interesting thing here, as far as I’m concerned is the reaction of their Member of Parliament, Ron Liepert, a Conservative politician:
This is a government official telling Canadians that due to new developments south of the border, we should avoid connecting through the US whenever possible.
By not connecting through the US Canadians and others can affect the bottom line and that’s all this administration cares about (money is power); I wouldn’t blame them in the slightest for not wanting to come through. CBP can legally do a lot of things to make people suffer on a personal level and the worst tyrant is a petty tyrant. As an American w/ generations of family members who’ve fought for the freedoms of the US I hate that this couple went through this.
I can tell you refugees and immigrants have been loudly welcomed by many here in the Salt Lake City area, both in print and at the airport; even the reigning religious group boasts of their value publicly.
Those who’ve called you an idiot are wrong IMHO; those in power are enjoying it b/c they are corrupt and deplorable, and millions more voted against them than for them but the Electoral College has the final say.
I believe that we are only seeing the merest tip of the economic impacts this administration is going to cause with their policies. Certainly, tourism will take a hit, as nobody wants to be hassled just for being on vacation. As the round up of illegals intensifies, people will begin to stay home rather than take a chance on being arrested at work, migrant workers will stop showing up to pick crops, etc. At some point, even the most die hard Trumpites are going to start complaining about the price of potatoes, wondering why work crews aren’t showing up to re-roof their homes or take care of the landscaping, etc. The complaint that “immigrants are stealing our jobs” is just bullshit, as most Americans won’t do those jobs.
Between stories like this and them demanding phone passwords and social media access, I’m certainly considering routing our upcoming travel to avoid transiting through America. Even if it costs us more.
Just to be clear on this… These new rules were put in place under Obama and just approved in Dec. It’s not clear at all that things would have been any different had Trump not been elected. Remember, these things are enforced by lower level career people, not a bunch of political hacks showing up on the scene all of a sudden.
If Trump can sign executive orders to detain & deport people, he can sign an EO saying to not do this. He’s the quarterback and he’s got the ball; if he gets sacked, can he legitimately say “Hey, you shoulda sacked the center; he had it originally?”
Actually, collecting biometrics at has been going on in the US for over a decade at points of entry, via various pilot programs. Point of exit collection has been lagging due to various logistical issues, but attempts have been made for about as long. Some pilot programs selected random travelers leaving the country, some attempted to scan all using various facial recognition technologies. I can’t find anything on what may be happening in the SLC airport specifically, but it sounds like another pilot program or an expansion of an existing one. It has no relation to any “immigration upheaval”.
ETA - The wiki list also includes countries that use biometrics for purposes other than travel.
I’ve been to 24 countries in the past two years, and the only one that fingerprinted me was Cambodia – inexplicably, as I was leaving, at a land border.
There was an idea floated by a Mexican representative to stop buying corn from the US, instead sourcing it from South America, mostly Brazil. Even the rumor had a lot of farmers in the surrounding area up in arms over how it could affect the price of corn and their livelihoods. I’ve just wanted to scream, “GOOD! You voted for it, ya idiots.”
The problem won’t stop until the companies that provide jobs to illegal immigrants face actual consequences for their actions.
Blame the rise in networked computers for that, its only been less than twenty years since a DUI up here was a misdameanor in all but name. Obviously this never came up before in cross border travels, until we started sharing info. Otherwise, you did like everyone else and lied if it was something important. Worse case, all you had to do was change entry ports.
