My wife and I have traveled to Europe in the spring or fall for the past few years. Considering how horribly the US is treating citizens from Canada, the EU, and the UK we're worried that there might be a backlash against US citizens. Understandable backlash, I'll note. We voted for Harris.
Agreed. However, I just finished cat-sitting for my neighbours who went to Myrtle Beach and have another cat-sit for cousins in July as they road-trip down to Florida. So...
"I believe God brought you here for a reason" said the nurse who cared for her in detention. Seems sweet and I'm glad the victim took comfort in it, but I find this thinking insidious. Does it help the people who work at these facilities to think this way? That they are by proxy doing "God's work"?
There is a faction that acts as though isolationism is the key to success. Close the borders, discourage travel, pull all foreign aid. I can't tell if they actually believe this or use it as a cover for consolidating wealth in only a few hands. I'm leaning toward the latter.
No one would disagree that immigration policy needs a reset — but I’m guessing the majority of folks are unaware of the problems with the administration of that policy and the presence of a profit motive for the participants.
Whole discussion going on in our writing group (various published writers included, UK) whether or not the risk is worth it re: conventions or book tours. General feeling I think is “nope”. Would it be far-fetched to imagine ICE lurking at WorldCon, for example, checking visas?
Worldcon will be on Musk’s radar. The heavy overlap between the alt-right nerds and the government means that, yes, there’s a real chance a Sad Puppy in power decides to strike a blow against progressivism in SFF by targeting the con.
my partner coming here to live with me hinged on trump losing. now we're stuck in a limbo waiting for this admin to finish... if it ever does. the problem is, for a marriage visa you need to have met irl at least once within 2 years of application. even as a born citizen i'm scared to visit THEM
Yikes.
When I discontinued my first grad program in the US, I found out the hard way that the school had not properly submitted the exit paperwork, so it looked like I overstayed. A border agent eventually put a notation on my file saying I wasn't in violation, but there's no way I'd trust that now.
"I feel like I was kidnapped" says a woman who was absolutely kidnapped by a bunch of people who told her "I don't know where we're bringing you and I don't know why"
Exactly. Any Canadian who dares to cross the border, even to fill up their gas tank, is taking a risk that they will enter a nightmarish scenario, ending up in a hellhole prison, or maybe even being "deported" to El Salvador.
I'm putting a hold on all US conventions. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but travelling as an author, there's plenty of weird space between work and tourism... where the authorities could choose to decide I fall.
Same. I normally go to US conferences at least once a year, and would often get held back for extra questioning when I entered (I lived there for a couple of years on a student visa). Not going to risk going again for while!
doesn't even matter if you go for work, are on a tourist visa or are a green card holder. Germans in all of these scenarios were detained and mistreated after ICE made up visa violations.
They detained a female artist from Berlin, tried to put her on meds and "psychological supervision", put her in solitary confinement for no reason and moved her through several facilities for weeks, making it extra hard to keep track of her. They did not let her go despite her having return tickets.
The cruelty is the point. Every one of us in the U.S. has to decide how we will meet this terrible moment. Even small acts of resistance matter. Don't be a bystander.
As a British academic I will not be attending any conferences in the US for the foreseeable future. It's simply too risky. Conference organisers would be well advised to reintroduce covid-era virtual attendance options.
22 years ago I was a guest of the US State Department at a cultural gathering in Iowa. We had international writers' panels on all sorts of topics, and when asked I expressed my opposition to GW Bush's invasion of Iraq. It never occurred to me that this was risky, as it wasn't. Impossible today.
This quote, tho: "These documents speak to who I am now, and while unlikely to confer the sort of credibility you'd attach to a border guard with 13 weeks of training under their belt, perhaps they'll give you hope that I may yet become a productive member of society."
I'm starting to consider whether we should take our out of the country vacation this summer. With immigration and ICE inventing reasons to put people in detention without legal justification I worry we won't get back home. If I, a US citizen, worries, why would anyone visit here.
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Thanks.
The US is so screwed
write a poem about ringed lemurs
If your plan is to travel to the US, you are taking a big risk.
We both agree, he's one tweet away from having to run for his life.
When I discontinued my first grad program in the US, I found out the hard way that the school had not properly submitted the exit paperwork, so it looked like I overstayed. A border agent eventually put a notation on my file saying I wasn't in violation, but there's no way I'd trust that now.
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Sadly I still have the damn Canadian passport hanging over my head until I get full citizenship elsewhere
I am Adham from Gaza, a father of four children 🌹
Any help, no matter how small, can make a big difference. Please, support us and share my plea 🙏
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Then they came for the Canadians…(oh, sorry. I meant residents of the 51st state)
https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/gz2jcv/peter_watts_letter_of_remorse_to_the_department/