French Researcher Denied Entry to U.S. for Disliking Trump: Report

A French researcher was denied entry to the U.S. over text messages on his phone that were critical of President Donald Trump, according to several reports from media outlets in France. An FBI investigation was reportedly launched into the scientist, and it’s just the latest sign that America’s slide into authoritarianism is going to have serious ramifications for academic research in the near future.

The researcher, who hasn’t been identified publicly, was traveling to Houston on March 9 for a conference, according to France24, though the airport where U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stopped the scientist hasn’t been identified. France’s minister of higher education and research, Philippe Baptiste, only identified the researcher as someone working for the French National Center for Scientific Research.

CBP reportedly went through the researcher’s phone and bags during a so-called “random” check and discovered text messages critical of Trump and his assault on science research. The U.S. president has been destroying the U.S. federal government with the help of billionaire oligarch Elon Musk, recently cutting vital research programs at the National Institutes of Health, the EPA, and countless other agencies.

France24 quoted an unnamed diplomatic source who claimed the researcher “showed hatred towards Trump” and it “could be qualified as terrorism,” though the substance of the messages is still unclear, and the Trump regime isn’t exactly known for its honesty in situations like these. The French minister Baptiste characterized the messages differently.

“This measure was apparently taken by the American authorities because the researcher’s phone contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration’s research policy,” said Baptiste.

Reached for comment by email, an FBI spokesperson would only refer Gizmodo to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The FBI would not confirm or deny that it had launched an investigation into the researcher.

CBP, who reportedly seized the researcher’s devices, gave a vague emailed statement to Gizmodo that started by referring to individuals who “violate the terms of a lawful immigration status and attempt to re-enter the country” but didn’t elaborate any further on that suggestion.

“All persons arriving at a port of entry to the United States are subject to inspection on a case-by-case basis. As part of their critical national security mission, CBP officers routinely determine admissibility of foreign nationals using longstanding U.S. immigration law,” the agency said in a statement attributed to Hilton Beckham, Assistant Commissioner of Public Affairs.

“If an individual has material discovered on their electronic media that raises flags during an inspection, it can result in further analysis,” the statement continued. “Claims that such decisions are politically motivated are completely unfounded.”

CBP has the authority to stop any foreign national from coming into the U.S., but the circumstances around this case will cause further questions internationally about whether the U.S. is a safe place to travel. Other high-profile cases of people stopped at the border recently suggest a more aggressive posture by American authorities than before Trump came into office.

Previously, someone traveling to the U.S. without a valid visa might be denied entry, but there are more and more stories of people instead being thrown into ICE detention facilities for weeks at a time. A Canadian woman, Jasmine Mooney, was recently trying to enter the U.S. through Mexico near San Diego and was thrown into a private prison, subjected to invasive medical tests, and shackled in chains, according to the Guardian.

Another recent case involved Fabian Schmidt, a German national with permanent residency in the U.S. who lived in New Hampshire. Schmidt had been visiting Luxembourg and was stopped by U.S. authorities in Boston on his flight home. Schmidt, who got his green card in 2008, was reportedly “flagged” and transferred to the Donald W. Wyatt detention facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island, according to WGBH. That man was “violently interrogated,” stripped naked, and put in a cold shower, according to the news outlet. The man was also subjected to sleep deprivation and other forms of torture.

The U.S. has also illegally flown people without trial to a notorious prison in El Salvador under a deal between the country’s authoritarian president and the Trump regime, which recently invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, allowing “deportations” without judicial review. But these aren’t even “deportations” in the traditional sense, given the fact that these people were Venezuelan and were being sent to a country they never lived in.

The U.S. government claims these people were all gang members, though it’s impossible to say for sure given the fact that you simply have to take Trump’s word for it. Sworn declarations filed late Wednesday claim some of the men sent to El Salvador were asylum seekers who had never broken the law. In at least one case, ICE appears to have claimed that a man’s soccer tattoo and a common gesture of excitement were evidence he belonged to a gang.

Needless to say, these cases will make researchers think long and hard about whether it’s safe to visit the U.S. with Trump now in power. Trump’s fascist movement has been ransacking the U.S. government and purging anyone who’s not loyal to his perverse worldview; an ideology built on greed, corruption, and racism.