How My Reporting on the Columbia Protests Led to My Deportation | Hacker News Reader

How My Reporting on the Columbia Protests Led to My Deportation

newyorker.com

51 pointsmitchbob19 comments

I know freedom is a tricky subject in the US. This whole deal with freedom at the border seems like a sticky issue, why should we let border crossings be so unsafe? Is it because I am in a position of power and will probably never be bothered by border patrol?

If someone looks closely enough I am sure there is a reason to make me a criminal, at least at the border.

the sociology/anthropology explanation is: politics is about violence. (game theory optional). in the best possible case humanity have achieved, it's veiled violence thru community participation. in the most common, it's via money. and the actors choose the fights based on return. so you fight (with money) when you have something to gain. and you have nothing to gain improving a system that changes nothing in your life. yet someone who employees lots of illegal immigrants will want deportations so they can pay even less. the protests happen when people see a return on something they didn't before.

https://archive.ph/eVciJ

While maybe a bit of a stretch, writing on his Substack can be considered freelancing, especially if he earned money off it through ads/sponsorships. If this is the case it likely would have violated the freelancing restrictions on his F1 visa while he was a student anyway. That would also be a justification for CBP deportation in the future.

Journalism is free speech but it is also work. If you want journalistic protections, like to protect your sources, then you're doing work. If you're doing work in violation of your student visa, well...

That does not hold up to a Sniff test IMHO. What is this based on, do you have cases that were judged in this way?

I don't think the concern is "Could this plausibly be defended in a court of law?". The concern is "Is it healthy for society for the government to be deporting people based on political beliefs?".

Yes, absolutely I want our government deporting people _at points of border entry_ based on their political beliefs. That shouldn't even be controversial.

If you're into North Korean or Iranian hardliner "Death To America" politics, I sincerely hope that CBP calmly and politely has you gtfo at point of entry and hopefully no later.

Granted, I wouldn't want it to be _these_ political beliefs, but if you're a journalist publicly flying afoul of the political administration of the country you're traveling to, being denied entry is pretty much status quo around the world. It shouldn't be a shock to anyone.

> I sincerely hope that CBP calmly and politely

Politely?

> Yes, absolutely I want our government deporting people _at points of border entry_ based on their political beliefs.

Whoa. I think your views are indicative of where this is all heading.

> you're a journalist publicly flying afoul of the political administration of the country you're traveling to, being denied entry is pretty much status quo around the world. It shouldn't be a shock to anyone.

Not in most "Western" nations until just recently. The main exceptions were if you are calling for violence. But I think that the values we previously associated with "Western" nations is not as applicable to the US as evidenced by what is happening. Some political non-violent, non-racist views, are being banned and punished.

We have a very long history of denying media at the border. Especially when they try to travel without an I-visa (not saying this blogger would be considered a legitimate journalist or be required to have one).

We also have a long history of having our spies pose as media and get denied entry to other countries for it. If it's a tactic we use, we would expect the same in kind.

This is closer to "refusing entry" than to deporting.

Also the answer is yes. All European countries do various forms of refusing entry due to political beliefs for example. I can't really imagine it's different anywhere else on the planet.

Which countries in Europe deny entry for people who dislike Angela Merkel, exactly?

It’s particularly egregious that this is happening on the country that labels itself as the paragon of free speech…

The Netherlands has watchlists of people. Mostly extreme-right and pro-terror names are on that list. In the legislation this is called the "hate preacher" list, and one example of a person on that list is Mohamed Khatib. Another name would be David Icke. Don't look these people up, they are both hateful assholes that, frankly, deserve to be on that list for their political opinion (essentially they preach mass random killings to "help" their respective ideologies). BUT it's not known whose names are on the list, just that there's "hundreds" on there now. Also: now the Netherlands has breached EU legislation (free movement of people in the EU? Not if you're on this list ...)

(Perhaps it's relevant to say that in the Netherlands 1 politician in office has been executed, on the street, about a dozen have been attacked with everything you can think of: machetes, one with a tractor, cars, and one got hit in the face with a fist. Half the parliament complains about weekly death threats. Oh and the current leader of the far-right PVV, effectively the current leader of the government, complains he hasn't had a day with less than 10 death threats in months. He was physically attacked several times since in office)

But go around the earth and it rapidly gets much, much worse:

For example, when Tunisia got caught executing refugees by driving them into the desert and leaving them behind, without water, violating the agreement they signed with the EU ... suddenly they started systematically refusing entry to anyone who might be checking up on this. They refused entry to journalists, EU parliament members, doctors, ... And they got their way: it disappeared from the news.

The same has happened in Turkey, but Turkey has since removed journalists for 100 different reasons since the staged "coup" against Erdogan.

This political suppression is common, for a current example, both Palestine (both the PA and Hamas) refuse entry to most journalists. Hamas was flexible until [1], PA was never flexible. Not sure if it's related, but a Hamas rocket barrage hit the hotel that journalist team was staying AFTER they left Gaza. Iran kicked all journalists out about 4 months after the Iranian revolution and has since imprisoned over 1000 journalists and executed at least 30 of those.

It's becoming more common. Now in the last year Israel has also started refusing entry to (some) journalists (only Al Jazeera actually, and they still have journalists in Israel, but yes some of their employees were refused entry). India has also removed journalists, not from India but from conflict zones.

In the last few days Egypt deported (and arrested) groups of people to prevent a demonstration.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PHk-JqVPx0

> Mostly extreme-right and pro-terror names are on that list.

A terrorist is a that's a far, far cry from a _journalist_ covering an _event_ at a university. I don't think anyone is against protecting their borders from _actual terrorists_.

It's hilarious that the other examples are essentially military dictatorships. And it's now totally fine to have the US in that list...

These are not actual terrorists. They would never be so dumb as to implement "their" ideology themselves. They only preach it in hopes others will kill for them. In other words: they're politicians, in a very extreme way.

^ Yes! Just like journalists are activists and lobbyists these days. They're not just simply writers anymore.

Also Tunisia gets a pass from the media because it's a Marxist state. Nice call out.

> While maybe a bit of a stretch...

That is an irrelevant hypothetical.

His interview with customers and border patrol is recounted in the article and makes it clear his detention and deportation was about is opinions on Israel-Gaza:

"To Officer Martinez, the pieces were highly concerning. He asked me what I thought about “it all,” meaning the conflict on campus, as well as the conflict between Israel and Hamas. He asked my opinion of Israel, of Hamas, of the student protesters. He asked if I was friends with any Jews. He asked for my views on a one- versus a two-state solution. He asked who was at fault: Israel or Palestine. He asked what Israel should do differently."

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