Not necessarily: the student wrote to the Crimson that he had no such stuff on his phone. We have no way of knowing whether the student’s account is accurate.
Right that this is lopsided info, at this point.
We should also be aware that whom we associate with can affect us on many levels, including our own work security clearances, if needed.
It doesn’t matter if we “like” or respond to anything. It’s an old principle that ignorance of the law is no excuse. It’s not enough to say, I didn’t know or I didn’t respond. Of course, I mind rudeness, but I’d have to admit I’m grateful for the work TSA and border folks do.
Are border folks tough? They can be. But what a job.
Here is a hypothetical. Consider an entering Harvard freshman who represents himself as a poor student from a backwater in Poland. After an hours long interview upon arrival to the US, CBP seizes his phone, and it is found to have “friends” who belonged to Neo-Nazi skinhead groups; posts by those friends espouse white supremacy and hateful rhetoric about those of certain other races, ethnicities, and religions, in particular Muslims. However, the student truthfully states that he has never commented upon or shared any such posts, ever. He is excluded and sent back to Poland. Would CC posters be so supportive?
Let’s wait until all the facts come out. If I were representing Mr Ajjawi and I knew there was no real disqualifying material, I don’t think I would have advised him to go public with these accusations and allegations of mistreatment. I might have even advised him to offer a statement that he understands why the United States needs to be careful and that he would like to work through his attorneys to show that he is innocent.
If I knew there actually was disqualifying information found, though…
I bet most of us have ‘friends’ on Facebook who post quite offensive anti-Mexican or anti-Muslim material, at least on comments on fox news articles. The crazy old uncle is a meme for a reason. I tend to just ignore these far-right or y’all Quaeda types.
But I’d be surprised if a French border guard searched my phone and denied me entry to France because of that.
We don’t know these were racial or ethnic slurs, not at all. I’m wondering if they went well beyond that. And no, most kids don’t have “friends” who freely offer offensive comments.
Look, we tell our own kids to watch out for ‘guilt by association.’ For some reason, we’re assuming this kid was unfairly stopped by immigration. We don’t know the full details.
I’ve definitely got Trump-supporting older friends who post things on Facebook that would be considered terrorist-incitement if posted by anyone nonwhite. But everyone just kind of accepts it (“Uncle Jack’s just kind of traditional”).
Agree about not wanting guilt by association, but in a very limited defence of the US govt: the student is not being convicted or accused of a crime. Nobody has the right to enter a foreign country.
I don’t know if you’ve been following politics in Poland recently, but any white person in Poland (or Hungary) is highly likely to have friends who post that kind of thing.
[
It can also be the case that someone may seem quite ordinary in real life, but only after friending him/her on social media do (for example) extremist politics, conspiracy theories, etc. show up.
One of my Facebook “friends” is someone I need to keep track of for a personal reason. No one who knows me would ever think this is someone whose opinions I agree with in any way. He posts the most vile, racist, homophobic stuff you could imagine. The only way I could get access to his posts (which, as I said I need to see for personal reasons) was to friend him.
I don’ think this was what happened in the Harvard student’s case but it does run counter to the idea that someone’s friends always give an accurate idea of the person’s views.
Especially when the “friends” are on Facebook/social media.
So tired of people trying to defend the poor embattled CPB folks “just doing their jobs”. If the kid had been blond and Nordic looking he would have been waved through. This was plain and simple more racist BS.
Well I guess with that comment all those CBP people are racist.
My blonde Nordic kid has been stopped at international borders for additional questioning here and over the world-it is ignorant to presume otherwise.
Let’s not forget that there are multiple reasons for being denied entry other than being a potential terrorist. I was denied a student visa because my family has applied for immigration status before this (which wasn’t approved yet) and we were not aware this made us ineligible for any other type of visa. Lying on the application is another reason. We don’t know what the border officer saw, so let’s not rush to judgement.
Agreed. In fact young Americans are some of the most likely visa overstayers in Europe, so are often targeted for additional questioning if they don’t have an onward ticket, etc.
There appear to have been no more articles giving any more detail, so there are several scenarios that are believable, but not provable (of course, some people will apply their political views to believe that their preferred interpretation is definitely the true one).
But here is an article discussing various issues regarding border checkpoints that those traveling internationally may want to know about: https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/31/20837448/social-media-dhs-cbp-surveillance-us-border-ismail-ajjawi-harvard . But also note that stuff like this could occur at border checkpoints of other countries.
Few details provided, but Ajjawi has been let into the country in time for the start of classes tomorrow:
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/9/3/harvard-student-turned-away-arrives/
Glad this got resolved.
Happy ending there, though rough start to college.