I think you have fallen victim to the news. Yes there are a lot of rumblings about things like the OP, but the vast majority of people pass through US customs with no issue. Even as you said. Last time I went to Mexico both my gf and I were searched. When I landed in Brussels last time the immigration officer was really rude to me for no reason. It's not unique to the United States. My view is that your comment, like many other similar comments, are more so about venting outrage at Trump and so this is a convenient straw man (despite the fact that these kinds of policies continued under Obamacare). I'm not saying there aren't horror stories, but they are very few and far between, and much more publicized than getting detained in Thailand for a day because you didn't pay off the customs officer (contrived example). The US is the big target, so everything is exaggerated. I've heard people from Europe say they wouldn't visit the US because they fear for their lives and other things like that too, but again that's because they heard about a school shooting and then assumed New York was a battleground.