The amount of bad advice here is staggering. You are not James Bond or some kind of ninja Seals secret agent.
You are a nobody attempting to enter a country, and you will be pissing off the border police.
Have some common sense.
The common sense would be don't go to countries where you risk being immediately sent home or to a slave colony in El Salvador for writing something mean about its president.
Its sad but people taking these other measures are rolling dice every time they go. Negotiating the leopard.
my biggest worry entering and leaving my own country is that my bag was lost, or theres a queue.
Now, as a French, I seriously consider being detained for something trivial and getting into a net of bureaucracy which would certainly extend my stay in the US. And I will not do that.
My grown-up children are suggesting vacation in New York and some other places, we will go to Asia instead where I was lucky enough to have only good experiences (especially in some countries). Nobody will care in the US but this is one less person to visit.
I would love the Americans to continue visiting us as nothing changed for them but I can totally understand that they will slow down as well, expecting unpleasantries.
Issues with border patrol can happen in any country. If they have bad mood, or you suddenly decided to piss them off, they will do their best to make your life harder. The US is not the best or worst to that matter. People who chose working as border patrol are not the smartest people out there (otherwise it is unlikely they would choose working at border patrol).
So I understand all precautions but saying its "common sense" not traveling there is a huge stretch IMHO.
I don't want that in my life. As simple as that.
https://www.dw.com/en/german-nationals-us-immigration-detain...
https://lamag.com/latravel/detained-at-the-border-what-forei...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tufts-student-grabbed-off-...
I really don't want this kind of nonsense in my life. Why would I visit a country that thinks this kind of treatment is okay?
Rest of articles state vague cases of travelers being sent back home at US border. Again nothing new here, at every country it up to border enforcement to make final decision regarding entry. Its nothing but regular "treatment".
If you don't want this - that's certainly your choice, but I really would like to hear about cases where legitimate travelers are thrown into detention centers and kept there for weeks. Something tells me there is no such stories, but I would still like to see the evidence.
Nobody forces you to go there, and especially play secret agent. If you go, you know that what you have can be searched so have nothing, or have something that is not controversial.
The same applies to all the countries in the world.
Extraordinary rendition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition
Coups https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...
Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni...
Otherwise yes, you are right - they are bullies.
They will try to bully us in many other ways but this has nothing to do with the devices and how to hide stuff.
Same for this. Whether we like it or not, some stuff on your phone are now considered contraband at the US border. Either don't bring them or don't visit.
If you believe these rights are not important, that's your own opinion. But I think it's perfectly valid to criticize attacks on human rights.
So either I go or I don't go. If I go and comply I am fine. If I go and do not comply I am in trouble. If I go and try to sneak stuff I am in trouble.
I am not sure where this is complicated. We are not talking about ethics, but about some crazy ideas to hide stuff. This is irresponsible and dumb.
The source is here: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-nie...
I feel no moral or legal obligation to let them search through all my stuff just because of their policies, which don't seem at all compliant with our highest laws and ideals.