PEN America Reports Aggressive Interrogation of Artists and Writers at US Borders

Despite the court-ordered stay of President Trump’s first immigration travel ban of late January, 2017, restricting entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, reports of detention and aggressive interrogation of travelers, including U.S. citizens¹, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials at US airports were widely reported.

PEN America, an organization dedicated to protecting “open expression in the United States and worldwide” reported on March 3, 2017, that writers and artists were being subject to detention and aggressive interrogation, including temporary confiscation of phones, at U.S. ports of entry by ICE agents.

Mem Fox, an Australian citizen, was … detained for nearly two hours by Customs and Border Patrol officials who reportedly believed she was traveling on the wrong visa, although Fox says she has traveled to the U.S. over 100 times before without any incident. Her interrogation was so aggressive that she said she “felt like I had been physically assaulted.” ~ AGGRESSIVE INTERROGATION OF ARTISTS AND WRITERS AT U.S. BORDER

Whether ICE agents will continue this behavior under the revised travel ban is yet to be determined.

Nonetheless, …

PEN America is hearing from artists, writers, poets, and other cultural and intellectual figures who are newly worried about making trips to the U.S., afraid of being turned away at the border, made to submit to invasive searches of their smartphones, interrogated about their political opinions and religious beliefs, or being subjected to arbitrary tests of their abilities. ~ AGGRESSIVE INTERROGATION OF ARTISTS AND WRITERS AT U.S. BORDER

If you are, or someone you know is, traveling abroad and has concerns about seizure of personal information (i.e., an investigative journalist who might report on activities of potential embarrassment to certain governments, or who would be carrying their organization’s private documents or contacts), you might wish to evaluate the following measures to secure your phone’s contents from arbitrary search and seizure.

Visit PEN America on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube.

_

¹Detention of US citizens at airports without warrant is allowed because U.S. Customs holding areas are not considered U.S. territory.