I recently received the following email from a Finnish reader and friend in response to my last post. Russians and Japanese aren't the only ones made to jump through hoops to visit our dear country! As an American, this is truly embarrassing. I've provided links to some of the issues he discusses:
I was just checking out the blog, and reading the "Visaless in Vladivostok" piece. Seeing my situation as a desperate U.S. immigration hopeful, it is incredibly ironic, that the nation's biggest (well, one of them anyway ... there are quite a few big ones
aren't there) worries is immigration in all aspects. "Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life" -JFK. Another great quote states that the "nation was built on the broad shoulders of immigrants". So you would think...
Before heading to the States in January for my three month visaless visit, I tried to get a tourist visa for a year - the consulate denied it. The reason? My ties to Finland weren't strong enough according to the (American) consular, straight at the interview, I didn't even have to wait for the response. The fact that I was born and raised here, speak the language, have lived here all my life, and my family is here didn't mean anything, he said. I was furious, to say the least. And as in your Tokyo example, I felt like I'm not a terrorist cell member from Yemen, I'm a Finnish citizen with the cleanest of backgrounds, from modest ole' Finland. And I can attest to that too, that you indeed have to prove at every single point that you intend to come back with all sorts of paperwork - but even that wasn't enough: I had a letter from my then employer, who I would've been working long distance for by the way, so basically I wouldn't have even "wasted" your precious resources but instead would've come to spend my tourist money and help the economy! They even ask for a bank statement, which I feel is perhaps understandable in some sense, but still embarrassing.
And when I arrived in Chicago, the first officer asked me how much money $$$ I have, right now, right there. When I didn't really want to say in front of other people in the queue, they took me to the immigration room to be interrogated. Nice... Only did it resolve when I showed them an envelope I had with me that had $1200 in cash. But with the consequence that I lost both my bags and missed my connecting flight to Miami, but that's another story ...
Recently I also read in the news that some U.S. officials and bigshots were actually, seriously, considering the option of using an anesthetic to put the whole airplane cabin to sleep during the flight. They gave up on it because there's always a chance that you might not wake up! And I guess it was pretty recently also in the news that they are thinking of something called a shock bracelet or something, that would have all your personal and flight info in it, but would also be able to tase you with the touch of a button if you acted up.
[As a final insult to reason, I found this patent for an airplane trap door system that pilots can activate in the cockpit to drop would-be hijackers into a secure holding pen. This sort of thing would be funny if it didn't illustrate just how far we've drifted into becoming a police state.]
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I think most people who read this article have the gut reaction of "Are you f***ing kidding me?" And as much as I hate the government's meddling I have to take a step back and concede just a little bit. Making sure people are honest with their visas is not the worst thing I've ever heard of. I listened to a NPR feature one evening on Italy's illegal immigration issue, and it was astonishing. One immigrant's story was that he found a labor job and one day had a pile of bricks accidentally dropped on him from two stories up. He woke up in the hospital with a broken back, looking up at his employer. While the employer said he'd take good care of him, what actually happened was the employer, in the face of the bed-ridden worker, walked to the nightstand, took all of his money and his visa, and walked out. Now, granted this is obviously not the destiny of your friend, but I can see these rules being in place to avoid circumstances such as these.
Of course, the rebellion in me can call it as an attempt to isolate America from the outside world so that we become dumber, more racist, and more controlled, but that's just conspiracy.
Then there is this account of an Icelandic woman's "tourist experience".
Sanitized MSM version: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22263392/
Non-sanitized version: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/71319/
(This was even includes the ultra-scary picture of this hardened criminal).
This story could be a whole post, but I'll let the links speak for themselves.
As a glimmer of hope for our future standing in the world:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-berlin25-2008jul25,0,3942684.story
This type of response to Obama's speech seems to indicated that (to vastly generalize) Europeans may make a distinction between America's leaders and Americans themselves.
Traveling with Cameron in Europe in May/June of 2003, we experienced a decent amount of anti-americanism. In one particularly telling experience, we were on a train from Florence to Rome sitting across from a young woman from Rome. She was uncomfortable with us as we started making small talk. However, in about 15 minutes of conversation it somehow came out that we were anti-Bush and against the (still new) Iraq War. She visibly relaxed and we had a great conversation for the entire train ride.
She invited us to a club in Rome to see some music that night. Cameron and I showed up earlier than her, and while we were waiting other Italians basically told us, "we don't want you here, this place is not for you." Only until she showed up and vouched for us did they seem ok with us being there.
This experience did not surprise me, because at that time there was a perception (if not a reality) that most Americans were gung-ho about the war in Iraq. It was natural for that girl to assume that Cameron and I shared the views of the majority of our country. Now it seems that is changing. I think Europeans are aware of how unpopular Bush is domestically. I think that is a good thing, and it certainly shows much more nuance than Americans usually do in assessing foreign countries (see Iranian people vs. Iranian leaders).
Wow, way to get off topic. Still, as a point - Cameron and I experienced only very minor rudeness from having come from a country that just launched an illegal, aggressive war. Eva Ósk Arnardóttir from Iceland (Iceland!) was shackled and imprisoned by our customs agents for a 10 year old visa violation. In case it sounded like I was making a comparison between our two experiences, I wasn't. There is no comparison.
When your highest leader sets as an example that executive officers need not follow the law, then we shouldn't be surprised when our law enforcement officers start acting like mini-dictators themselves.
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