Be careful what you say
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A French scientist was reportedly detained as he tried to enter the United States after criticizing President Donald Trump's cuts to science funding.
The man was on his way to a conference when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) took him into custody over the comments found in messages on his phone, according to Agence France-Presse.
Newsweek reached out to CBP and the French government for comment via email on Wednesday evening.
Why It Matters
The arrest continues a reported trend of temporary visa holders and visitors being detained by U.S. border officials on their way into the country amid heightened immigration enforcement under the Trump administration and concerns that free speech is no longer a defense when it comes to legal immigration status.What To Know
The space researcher was randomly selected for a search when arriving in Houston, Texas, on March 9, AFP and Le Monde reported. Officers found messages criticizing Trump's policies on his phone and computer following sweeping cuts to scientific research.U.S. authorities saw these messages as "hate and conspiracy messages," which prompted an FBI investigation that was later dropped. However, the researcher was sent back to France.
CBP's move to deny entry to a foreign national seemingly solely based on their opinion of the president, rather than necessarily expressing ill will or intentions to harm him, comes amid increased scrutiny of those entering the country.
Legal permanent residents, along with those on work-based visas, have been questioned, detained and even removed from the country in recent weeks, including two German tourists and a Canadian woman trying to renew her visa at the southwest border.
https://www.newsweek.com/french-scientist-banned-us-entry-messages-trump-2047549
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Travel like before the "smartphone" was invented?
It used to be easy, like you just remember your username/password and login using whatever equipment after you get to the other side. But all the two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication requirements blew that simplicity out of the water -- now you have to carry a personal device with you.
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Travel like before the "smartphone" was invented?
It used to be easy, like you just remember your username/password and login using whatever equipment after you get to the other side. But all the two-factor authentication or multi-factor authentication requirements blew that simplicity out of the water -- now you have to carry a personal device with you.
@Axtremus said in Be careful what you say:
Travel like before the "smartphone" was invented?
I’m thinking that’s what I might do.
Delete all social media apps from my phone, delete the passwords from the password keeper… sign out of everything…. What else? My email is actually probably rather tame, mostly work stuff.
Because what do they do when they pick someone for random searching? Ask you to open/unlock your phone? Without a warrant?? As a U.S. citizen, can I say no? (Guess I better know my rights before I travel…)
Anyway, it’s not me I’m worried about but my spouse. But it’s me who is on all these websites… He doesn’t post stuff like I do… I’m actually considering going through my FB account and deleting a bunch of posts….
What total and utter bs this is.
Welcome to America 2.0.
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I just deleted all the political posts I've made on Facebook since Jan this year. My BlueSky account is pretty bland so that's ok.
Then I guess when I'm ready to travel, I will remove the FB app from my phone and iPad, remove the passwords, and remove Firefox from my laptop and only have Edge browser on laptop. Since I don't actually use Edge there won't be any history there, and I can set up my work accounts there
What about Safari on my phone? Can I just delete cookies and passwords??
Anything else I should do before we travel?
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@Jodi said in Be careful what you say:
Hope we can survive it.
I am having a hard time feeling hopeful.... both in terms of the country and in terms of me personally, like is the economy going to tank? Will I still have a job? Will we be able to keep our house? ... all of that....
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I'm married to a tech guy. He says you can't actually remove anything, or records of anything. Anything you post lives on. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Maybe in your situation, SK, traveling overseas, anyone who checks your phones or accounts would not see anything you have deleted. But FB will have the record.
I hate that we are living in fear of such things. Because there are so many people who potentially have so much to lose if they speak out, I am speaking out extra. Military troops risked their lives for the freedoms we have enjoyed. If I put myself in the line of fire by raising my voice, I will view it as my duty to my country--the country that was ours until Jan 20, 2025.
We need more voices. If you can, keep speaking up!
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I'm married to a tech guy. He says you can't actually remove anything, or records of anything. Anything you post lives on. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Maybe in your situation, SK, traveling overseas, anyone who checks your phones or accounts would not see anything you have deleted. But FB will have the record.
I hate that we are living in fear of such things. Because there are so many people who potentially have so much to lose if they speak out, I am speaking out extra. Military troops risked their lives for the freedoms we have enjoyed. If I put myself in the line of fire by raising my voice, I will view it as my duty to my country--the country that was ours until Jan 20, 2025.
We need more voices. If you can, keep speaking up!
@pique said in Be careful what you say:
I'm married to a tech guy. He says you can't actually remove anything, or records of anything. Anything you post lives on.
Yes, I assume that’s the case. Although I did edit everything before deleting, i.e., I edited all the posts first, and saved them, so if you looked at them after editing, you wouldn’t see the original content. I did that in the hopes that the edited post would over-write the original. Then, after that, I deleted them and removed them from the trash. No idea how effective it actually is. But …
Maybe in your situation, SK, traveling overseas, anyone who checks your phones or accounts would not see anything you have deleted.
This was my aim, if I’m at immigration control at the airport and we get selected for a random search and they say “unlock your phone” or says that to my husband, those posts won’t show up.
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Is it even possible to travel without a smartphone any more? Can you carry flip phones instead?
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This NYT article is geared towards international visitors. But perhaps still of interest. I didn’t know this:
What rights do visitors have?
U.S. federal law gives government agents the right to search people’s property, including their phones and laptops, at border entry points. They do not need to be suspected of wrongdoing in order to be searched, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
All visitors have the right to remain silent. But the burden of proof rests with visa holders. For example, if an officer asks if someone plans to work on their tourist visa, and that person remains silent, the officer is likely to deny them entry, Mr. Joseph said.
If a person is found inadmissible during questioning, they can withdraw their intent to enter the country and may then be allowed to travel back to their home country. Their visa is canceled and they often get the next flight home. But an officer can deny the withdrawal, at which point the visitor is detained.
Because these confrontations occur technically outside the country, the rights outlined in the U.S. Constitution do not apply, Mr. Joseph said, and detainees are not necessarily entitled to a lawyer. The government has about 90 days to deport people. That period can be extended if detainees don’t cooperate by providing the correct travel documents, at which point they can be subject to criminal proceedings. Following an order of removal, people are barred from entering the U.S. for five years.. -
This NYT article is geared towards international visitors. But perhaps still of interest. I didn’t know this:
What rights do visitors have?
U.S. federal law gives government agents the right to search people’s property, including their phones and laptops, at border entry points. They do not need to be suspected of wrongdoing in order to be searched, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
All visitors have the right to remain silent. But the burden of proof rests with visa holders. For example, if an officer asks if someone plans to work on their tourist visa, and that person remains silent, the officer is likely to deny them entry, Mr. Joseph said.
If a person is found inadmissible during questioning, they can withdraw their intent to enter the country and may then be allowed to travel back to their home country. Their visa is canceled and they often get the next flight home. But an officer can deny the withdrawal, at which point the visitor is detained.
Because these confrontations occur technically outside the country, the rights outlined in the U.S. Constitution do not apply, Mr. Joseph said, and detainees are not necessarily entitled to a lawyer. The government has about 90 days to deport people. That period can be extended if detainees don’t cooperate by providing the correct travel documents, at which point they can be subject to criminal proceedings. Following an order of removal, people are barred from entering the U.S. for five years..@wtg said in Be careful what you say:
U.S. federal law gives government agents the right to search people’s property, including their phones and laptops, at border entry points. They do not need to be suspected of wrongdoing in order to be searched, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Yes, and the officers don’t need a warrant the way they would in the U.S. (e.g., on the t]streets, at your house etc.). As far as I know, this applies to anyone, not just non-citizen visitors.
If a person is found inadmissible during questioning, they can withdraw their intent to enter the country and may then be allowed to travel back to their home country. Their visa is canceled and they often get the next flight home. But an officer can deny the withdrawal, at which point the visitor is detained.
Yep, and this is a very scary option IMO.
Because these confrontations occur technically outside the country, the rights outlined in the U.S. Constitution do not apply, Mr. Joseph said, and detainees are not necessarily entitled to a lawyer.
This detail I did not know.
The government has about 90 days to deport people.
90 days is an awfully long time.
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@pique said in Be careful what you say:
Okay, but why do need a smartphone? Why won't old technology be sufficient?
Not really, you need a camera to access QR codes at immigration in Japan, you need access to the internet on your phone for various things, and I would need access to train info, GPS etc. to get around.
Oh also, you “can” fly without a smart phone, but it makes things much harder, since everything assumes you have a smartphone and that’s how your tickets are displayed etc. If you should experience flight disruptions, not having a smartphone would make it very difficult to change flights, do all of that stuff…
As for getting a new phone once in Japan, I think I would need access to my US phone for various things, like taking care of my house in the U.S., accessing my bank account, which can’t be done without two-factor, and my two-factor is tied to my cellphone number… I also need my cellphone number to access my university stuff as well bc everything is two-factor now…
I mean, I’m sure things could be done without a smartphone, but it would make everything enormously difficult.
Another thing that occurred to me is, just how suspicious I would look with burner devices. Like, what is this random lady trying to hide!
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I’m not doing anything that would get me in trouble, it’s just if I’m selected for a random search, I don’t want anything to look “anti-orange” and more to the point, if someone opens Facebook on my husband’s phone, I don’t want any political posts by me to show up. And now they won’t.
Beyond that, I think I just need to “prep” my phone before travel. Sign out of everything, clear cache/cookies from iPhone safari, remove apps for Facebook and Messenger… I can leave BlueSky there…
On my laptop, remove the Firefox browser completely bc that’s the main browser I use. Set up Edge as the main browser, which is fine, and the history will show that I access work-related pages…
I don’t know, this all ought to be sufficient… but it’s hard not to be afraid, with everything you hear in the news right now.
