Homeland Security strikes again!

This is so stupid! this just isn't right! I mean come on...What if this isn't an isolated incedent? What if some one flies in to another airport and the samething happens to them? Is this just a glimps of what is to become of Amearica? Is Amearica turining in to a Citadel where no one may enter unless you're from the US? what are your thoughts?

At about noon, CBP informed Smethurst she would be denied entr�e into the United States: While Australian tourists visiting the United States are visa-waived for 90 days, working journalists need a special I-Visa, which Smethurst had not been aware of and did not possess. She had, after all, flown into LAX on the same passport eight times previously without incident. Now she was being asked to raise her right hand and swear that her answers had been truthful, then was fingerprinted and photographed � every time she comes to America, her swiped passport will bring up this documentation of her rejection. As Smethurst�s inked fingers were rolled onto the government form, she noticed its heading:

�Criminal.�

Here is the rest of the story...

P.S. I had no idea where to post this...if it is in the wrong place then move it....

Welcome to 1984 Bush Amerika

Hmmm...let me see, she had entered before eight times, but technically had the wrong document.
Then she was stopped and learned she did not have the right visa.

Is that like...I drove past police eight times, then was stopped and found out I need a drivers license?

In a court of law, ignorance is not a valid excuse.

I didn't know I ran him over.
I didn't know I drank that much and then drove.
I didn't know this drug was illegal.
I didn't know she was not of legal age.
I didn't know I had to pay for that.

And as for the Bush Amerika comment. Yeah, I am sure where ever you are from is much, much better. I guess you believe ignorance IS a exuse for breaking the law. Well, I believe you just broke the Law of Reason with that comment.

sounds more like a mistake by her, not a deliberate act of mistreatment by the government.

[Edited on 23-12-2003 by namehere]

[Edited on 23-12-2003 by namehere]

Originally posted by ZeddicusZulZorander
Hmmm...let me see, she had entered before eight times, but technically had the wrong document.
Then she was stopped and learned she did not have the right visa.

In a court of law, ignorance is not a valid excuse.

I didn't know I ran him over.
I didn't know I drank that much and then drove.
I didn't know this drug was illegal.
I didn't know she was not of legal age.
I didn't know I had to pay for that.

And as for the Bush Amerika comment. Yeah, I am sure where ever you are from is much, much better. I guess you believe ignorance IS a excuse for breaking the law. Well, I believe you just broke the Law of Reason with that comment.

Did you read the article? This is not a case of breaking a law and then claiming ignorance. This should have been handled as a paperwork misunderstanding and she should have been treated with respect and offered the chance to fix it. She did nothing "criminal" and did not deserve to be labeled as such. She also did not deserve to be handcuffed, denied something to drink or eat, or repeatedly strip-searched.

"...the I-Visa rule was enforced at the discretion of agents...
When Smethurst�s editor, who planned to visit the United States on business, inquired about obtaining an I-Visa, she was told it would not be necessary. She is going to get one anyway."

How could this be be ignorance? If you were told by the police department that a drivers license wasn't necessary to drive, but then you were arrested for not having one, would you consider it to be your fault? Wouldn't you expect to be given correct information by the people who are supposed to know? And how can you justify an innocent person being given the classification of "criminal", for a technicality that is only enforced at the discretion of the agents?

The questions they asked about her magazine and article make me think that this is more likely, an attempt to control the foreign press.

"What sort of stories did she write? What kind of magazine was New Idea? Where was it published? What was its circulation? Does it print politically sensitive articles? When would her interview appear? Who would be reading it?"

If they can document and track foreign journalists in the country, separately from tourists or other foreign workers, then monitor what they report, the government can create profiles on all foreign journalists entering the US. They will be able to deny entry to anyone who may write unfavorable articles about the US. How else will they be able to censor what is written overseas? If reporters who portray US activities or government negatively start to be denied access into the country, their publishers will be more inclined to only print articles that show us in a positive light.

Also, this is not an just happening to foreigners. It is happening to US citizens as well.

Last September, the CBP at LAX detained the Australian-born wife of a U.S. Navy sailor for five days, while also briefly denying her infant daughter food and medical attention.

A woman flying from New York to Florida was forced to drink three bottles of her own breast milk before being allowed to board a flight at JFK International Airport.

They would not allow her to feed her 4 month old with them or pour them out. She said, "I asked them if I could just taste it; if I could just show them how you would check a baby's bottle - that it was warm milk and everything. And they said, 'No,'" ordering her to "drink it all."
The nursing mom then offered to feed the milk to her baby as the guards looked on, but they refused.
www.privacyinternational.org...
I wish everyone would start taking these abuses more seriously. They may be few and far between now, but the more they are allowed to happen, without consequence, the more this type of thing will become the rule instead of the exception to it.

No one better screw me over when I am in an airport going somewhere. I would do everyting i could to make the story go public. When stories like this are shown on cnn and all the other huge news stations, it can be a real big bitch!!!!! If the government screws me they can bet i will get revenge!!!

Many things have been done under this Homeland Security stuff. I expect some incovience because of terror threats and trying to keep our country safe. But when does the land of freedom have the right to take away so many freedoms that others our dying to protect for us. Think the Homeland Security was just created by Bush to take over the US

Originally posted by ilovepizza
No one better screw me over when I am in an airport going somewhere. I would do everyting i could to make the story go public. When stories like this are shown on cnn and all the other huge news stations, it can be a real big bitch!!!!! If the government screws me they can bet i will get revenge!!!

I mean no disrespect here, but you are an insignificant speck to your government. Your government could erase your life in an instant and leave you homeless,jobless, computerless, and memoryless. I doubt there is anything you could do should the government decide to mess with you.

Originally posted by groingrinder

Originally posted by ilovepizza
No one better screw me over when I am in an airport going somewhere. I would do everyting i could to make the story go public. When stories like this are shown on cnn and all the other huge news stations, it can be a real big bitch!!!!! If the government screws me they can bet i will get revenge!!!

I mean no disrespect here, but you are an insignificant speck to your government. Your government could erase your life in an instant and leave you homeless,jobless, computerless, and memoryless. I doubt there is anything you could do should the government decide to mess with you.

yes..god bless america ..right??