5 ms·

Probably it's been like that always at the US border, it's just now it's popular to showcase such stories as an example of "look what Trump did to our country".

Probably it's been like that always at the US border, it's just now it's popular to showcase such stories as an example of "look what Trump did to our country". I heard of horror stories at the US border way before Trump took office.

throwayawnotime 10y ago
It is not so, such behaviour would have gotten reported as well under Obama, many countries are just waiting for the US to slip up as it is doing now, to justify their own less-than-stellar human-rights records: "see, it's just as bad in the US". Sadly ESC:bdw Luckily! the US is still better, For how long?
nraynaud 10y ago
I guess there is a self selection bias in the people who apply to work in the DHS, ICE and CBP in particular, and now they are given a political validation to their instinct. But it's clear, my personal close call at the US border was under Obama, and that I am far from calling him someone in love with justice.
dagenleg 10y ago
That's one of the good things about this whole media campaign against Trump. The media is throwing everything they can find at him and in the process expose a lot of heretofore ignored problems that have been festering for years. Maybe something will finally change?
Arnt 10y ago
Obama didn't get blamed for such things because he clearly didn't want them to happen. They happened, can't tell how often, but he didn't want or intend that. I didn't have the impression that Dubya wanted to harass random foreigners either. Trump, OTOH, is the kind of person who wants to throw out all the Yemeni in case one of them is another Timothy McVeigh.
- titraprutr 10y ago
  > he didn't want or intend that You can't really prove this. Something being said in the front of the camera with a fake smile on the face is one thing, documents being signed that are not released to the public is a different story.
  - lawless123 10y ago
    True ,but we sure as hell know Trump publicly endorses it. Obama wasn't a lightning rod for this. Trump has made himself one.
    - Arnt 10y ago
      Right. Any king can claim to be innocent when a bishop is killed in his realm, and may in theory be innocent. One that said "oh, won't someone rid me of this troublesome priest" before the bloodshed can't expect to be believed innocent, though.
    - jccc 10y ago
      And that's had a direct effect on the attitude and behavior of immigration goons: "[...] the shift — and the new enthusiasm that has come with it — seems to have encouraged pro-Trump political comments and banter that struck the officials as brazen or gung-ho, like remarks about their jobs becoming 'fun.' Those who take less of a hard line on unauthorized immigrants feel silenced, the officials said." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/25/us/ice-immigrant-deportations-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/25/us/ice-immigrant-deportat... https://twitter.com/JameelJaffer/status/835842617103503361 https://twitter.com/JameelJaffer/status/835842617103503361
      - AReallyGoodName 10y ago
        This combined with the fact that they now demand access to your facebook account on entry means I'm scared to post anti trump comments online. I need to travel between my birth country and my new home in the USA regularly. If I get a pro-trump homeland security agent (and it seems many of them are) scanning my phone. I fear I might be denied re-entry despite having a valid work visa. I guess we'll be seeing more and more of this in the near future. I and other non citizens are now silenced. A few more laws like this to silence a few other anti-trmup groups and the USA will slowly creep into totalitarianism for fear of losing everything they have. I'm just glad my birth country is Australia and I can happily return there before it gets really bad in the USA. The biggest problem I'm having is where shall I draw the line where I pack up my life here and return.
ajeet_dhaliwal 10y ago
I think you're right about it having been going for a while because I used to live in Canada and visited the USA regularly and I found that in both countries not just border officials but the police behavior was incredibly rude and counter productive compared to what I was used to in London, in the UK. I could detect there was a certain glee some of these people get from treating other people badly which is actually quite alien in my experiences in the UK. I'd say it's actually a cultural difference because it's so prevalent over there compared to here. The part where he mentions three officials immediately shouted down a man in unison after he protested about their treatment of the woman with the child is a perfect example of the cruel and over the top behavior I was witness to. It's also quite cowardly to need three people to do that and pathetic. I should say I was not often the victim, but just watching other people being treated in this way made me feel sick and I think it's something that should be addressed by the citizens, you should say denounce this sort of treatment of anyone. Anyone who gets pleasure out of causing any sort of suffering of another person should be removed from their post, based on my experiences that would require a complete overhaul from top to bottom.
refurb 10y ago
That's pretty much it. I can remember stories from a decade ago about Canadians traveling to the US. They get the "business or pleasure" question. They say "pleasure" and then the border patrol does a quick search, finds "business" papers, then proceeds to ban the person for 5 years from entering the US. Nothing has really changed with regards to how people are treated.
- shitgoose 10y ago
  Yep, I can confirm that.

throwayawnotime 10y ago

It is not so, such behaviour would have gotten reported as well under Obama, many countries are just waiting for the US to slip up as it is doing now, to justify their own less-than-stellar human-rights records: "see, it's just as bad in the US". Sadly ESC:bdw Luckily! the US is still better, For how long?

nraynaud 10y ago

I guess there is a self selection bias in the people who apply to work in the DHS, ICE and CBP in particular, and now they are given a political validation to their instinct. But it's clear, my personal close call at the US border was under Obama, and that I am far from calling him someone in love with justice.

dagenleg 10y ago

That's one of the good things about this whole media campaign against Trump. The media is throwing everything they can find at him and in the process expose a lot of heretofore ignored problems that have been festering for years. Maybe something will finally change?

Arnt 10y ago

Obama didn't get blamed for such things because he clearly didn't want them to happen. They happened, can't tell how often, but he didn't want or intend that. I didn't have the impression that Dubya wanted to harass random foreigners either. Trump, OTOH, is the kind of person who wants to throw out all the Yemeni in case one of them is another Timothy McVeigh.

titraprutr 10y ago
> he didn't want or intend that You can't really prove this. Something being said in the front of the camera with a fake smile on the face is one thing, documents being signed that are not released to the public is a different story.
- lawless123 10y ago
  True ,but we sure as hell know Trump publicly endorses it. Obama wasn't a lightning rod for this. Trump has made himself one.
  - Arnt 10y ago
    Right. Any king can claim to be innocent when a bishop is killed in his realm, and may in theory be innocent. One that said "oh, won't someone rid me of this troublesome priest" before the bloodshed can't expect to be believed innocent, though.
  - jccc 10y ago
    And that's had a direct effect on the attitude and behavior of immigration goons: "[...] the shift — and the new enthusiasm that has come with it — seems to have encouraged pro-Trump political comments and banter that struck the officials as brazen or gung-ho, like remarks about their jobs becoming 'fun.' Those who take less of a hard line on unauthorized immigrants feel silenced, the officials said." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/25/us/ice-immigrant-deportations-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/25/us/ice-immigrant-deportat... https://twitter.com/JameelJaffer/status/835842617103503361 https://twitter.com/JameelJaffer/status/835842617103503361
    - AReallyGoodName 10y ago
      This combined with the fact that they now demand access to your facebook account on entry means I'm scared to post anti trump comments online. I need to travel between my birth country and my new home in the USA regularly. If I get a pro-trump homeland security agent (and it seems many of them are) scanning my phone. I fear I might be denied re-entry despite having a valid work visa. I guess we'll be seeing more and more of this in the near future. I and other non citizens are now silenced. A few more laws like this to silence a few other anti-trmup groups and the USA will slowly creep into totalitarianism for fear of losing everything they have. I'm just glad my birth country is Australia and I can happily return there before it gets really bad in the USA. The biggest problem I'm having is where shall I draw the line where I pack up my life here and return.

ajeet_dhaliwal 10y ago

I think you're right about it having been going for a while because I used to live in Canada and visited the USA regularly and I found that in both countries not just border officials but the police behavior was incredibly rude and counter productive compared to what I was used to in London, in the UK. I could detect there was a certain glee some of these people get from treating other people badly which is actually quite alien in my experiences in the UK. I'd say it's actually a cultural difference because it's so prevalent over there compared to here. The part where he mentions three officials immediately shouted down a man in unison after he protested about their treatment of the woman with the child is a perfect example of the cruel and over the top behavior I was witness to. It's also quite cowardly to need three people to do that and pathetic. I should say I was not often the victim, but just watching other people being treated in this way made me feel sick and I think it's something that should be addressed by the citizens, you should say denounce this sort of treatment of anyone. Anyone who gets pleasure out of causing any sort of suffering of another person should be removed from their post, based on my experiences that would require a complete overhaul from top to bottom.

refurb 10y ago

That's pretty much it. I can remember stories from a decade ago about Canadians traveling to the US. They get the "business or pleasure" question. They say "pleasure" and then the border patrol does a quick search, finds "business" papers, then proceeds to ban the person for 5 years from entering the US. Nothing has really changed with regards to how people are treated.

shitgoose 10y ago
Yep, I can confirm that.