For the longest time my family had wanted to travel to the US. Some of us had not been to New York City yet and I also wanted to show them some of the places that I’ve really enjoy in past travels. When the results for the US general election came in last November, it was pretty clear to me, that we’d have to at least delay those plans. But nothing had prepared me for the amount of madness that is currently engulfing the US including areas like border control and immigration.
More and more cases of travelers being detained on the border to the US are starting to hit even local news outlets. Cases like those of Fabian Schmidt and Becky Burke sound like just random acts of force against innocent people. Today I also stumbled upon this report by Jasmine Mooney about her experience in various prisons and detention centers before finally being able to return to Canada. Even the UK has now issued an updated travel advice to the US!
It is just absurd that even a small mistake in your travel documentation (e.g. your ESTA form) could lead to your incarceration. There was a time when I just loved the freedom of traveling to the US to attend tech conferences and other events. But, I’m afraid, this time is now over. OK, that’s a very privileged statement since other folks haven’t had that freedom for a long time or even ever.
On the organizational side I’m wondering how tech events will react to this in the long run. PyCon US has already updated their refund policy, although the wording there is not strong enough in my opinion. Perhaps the major events will start to move out of the US and into places where it’s safer for everyone (but especially LGBTQ+ folks) to travel to. It’s also only a matter of time until companies will need to rethink business trips there and I’d be very hesitant (i.e. avoiding it at all cost) to go on such a trip.
I have no idea where this is all going but I don’t think it’s going to get better soon again. T everyone who’s affected by this and basically all the other things that are going on there right now: Stay safe!
Do you want to give me feedback about this article in private? Please send it to comments@zerokspot.com.
Alternatively, this website also supports Webmentions. If you write a post on a blog that supports this technique, I should get notified about your link 🙂