I was browsing the Guardian website just now and came across an article titled American Homeland Security. Intrigued, I clicked on it. To my horror it was the story of a British journalist who was detained at Los Angeles airport as a security threat simply because she did not obtain an I-visa for journalists allowing them into the country to work. This I-visa was re-implemented (originally from the 1950s) after September 11th. Her story is harrowing and appalling. The lengths American airport security go to to ‘secure’ America from ‘potential’ terrorist threats is ridiculous.
My own husband has had to endure American Homeland Security at its worst, though not nearly as horrifically as this poor woman. Three years ago this December Tim came to visit Arkansas for the first time. He flew a day later than I via Chicago to Northwest Arkansas. When he landed in Chicago, the passport control worker looked at his passport and scanned his fingerprint as normal. His passport was returned and he walked off. The officer then called him back and asked him to go wait in a room because ‘his fingerprints matched something.’ The plane from London had already landed nearly an hour late so even without this occurrence Tim would have been hard-pressed to make his connecting flight to Arkansas. He then waited in a room with other ‘potential threats’ including one individual he said appeared to be overdosing on some sort of drug most likely ingested to be smuggled into the country. After an hour with no word from anyone he was allowed to go with no explanation of why he had been detained. He had to stay overnight in Chicago and catch a flight the next day.
I urge you to read the story of this woman as it makes my blood boil. While Tim’s ordeal was more of an inconvenience, this woman was strip-searched, handcuffed and shipped off to a cell before being deported simply for having made a mistake. She filled in the usual green visa waiver form given out on the plane and indicated she was not representing a foreign media service. Furthermore, she was completely unaware of the I-visa requirement as are many other journalists. In fact, she points out that 12 of the 13 journalists deported from the US last year were from Los Angeles airport, most of whom did not know about the I-visa requirement either.
As documented by Reporters Without Borders and by the American Society of Newspaper Editors (Asne) in letters to Colin Powell and Tom Ridge, cases such as mine are part of a systemic policy of harassing media representatives from 27 friendly countries whose citizens – not journalists! – can travel to the US without a visa, for 90 days.
She says that a guard yelled at her claiming she was receiving very good treatment and she should go to somewhere like Iran to see how different it could be. She points out that
The irony is that it is only “countries like Iran” (for example, Cuba, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe) that have a visa requirement for journalists.
I could go on but I urge you to read her story for yourselves. It certainly upset me to see further proof of America: land of opportunity, land of the free and the brave being shipped to hell in a handcart thanks to Bush administration fascist policies. Protecting our nation from terrorists: what a load of manure.
Hmm. I’ve got limited sympathy here, I’m afraid. Heading to the States for work – particularly as a journalist – without a visa strikes me as being hopelessly naive and, dare I say, just a little unprofessional.
America’s visa requirements for journalists are quite well-known. For instance, my company says that if you’re headed to the States for work you *must* have a journalist visa. It took me half a day to apply for and get mine, and costs under £100, which you expense back to the company dispatching you.
This hack wouldn’t have gone to somewhere like Turkey or China without investigating the visa rules, and shouldn’t be surprised she didn’t get away with it in the States.