Sharma: Why I’m thinking twice about traveling to the US

In the months and years after going to the U S was scary for multiple of us Frontier prevention became harsh and unforgiving and we could feel our rights drop away upon entering American airspace Novels were written and movies were made about how an encounter with hostile suspicious frontier representatives could radicalize even those who previously loved America In the current era feels worse During George W Bush s administration we could tell ourselves that the country was confused suffering and lashing out In Trump s America it seems to outsiders that cruelty to foreigners is the point of politics not a byproduct of trauma I can t stress enough how different that makes America feel above all to those of us who hold it in affection and look forward to our trips there A well-justified suspicion that the ruling body hates us will naturally keep foreseen visitors away Fear doesn t attract tourists I m no exception I have frequent-flier miles saved up for a trip to the U S this year and like so several others I now believe that they will be better spent elsewhere Well-placed anxiety Are such fears groundless and irrational Perhaps But the stories add up We read about long-term residents sent off to prison camps in El Salvador and researchers deported for attending a protest or writing an op-ed That s awful enough But it s even weirder to hear from innocent tourists who discovered themselves in jail for minor problems with their excursion plans A large number of of us know people who have had frontier officers demand their phones and cross-examine them about emails they have sent It s depressing to learn that European officers are now issued burner phones if they re going to America Or that the U S Embassy in Tokyo has reminded Japanese travelers that they must include details of all their social media accounts over the past five years if they don t want their visa application rejected But it is positively absurd that we now ask friends arriving in the U S to message that they re safe after clearing shield Going through the U S territory line was already an intimidating experience and now it has gotten terrifying I may never feel as vulnerable as exposed when I stand in an immigration queue at an American airport clutching the flimsy shield of paperwork I hope will protect me from the baleful gaze of the federal authorities In no other country and at no other time is there so great a gulf between society principles and bureaucrats attitudes A country founded on rights wants you to know at your moment of arrival that now you have no rights at all Specific testimony from those detained at airports is particularly concerning Two German teenagers deported from Hawaii stated the media back home that immigration leaders fixated on the girls report that they would continue to occasionally freelance remotely for companies back home while they backpacked through America That was illegal on a visit to the U S they were advised What does that mean Everyone knows that visiting the U S means you can t work there But is it the occurrence that someone on holiday there can no longer answer work emails or edit a shared spreadsheet or participate in a conference call at their workplace a continent away Will I have to remove my work email from my phone the moment I land in the U S Tourism suffering The number of overseas visitors to the U S is already declining There were fewer arrivals in March than in the same month a year earlier The Financial Times unveiled that the decline in travelers from certain European countries was particularly sharp Visitors from Germany fell by almost for example Going after visitors in this fashion damages the U S largest part of all Companies will suffer if ordinary business travelers worry that they will have to answer confusing questions about what counts as work Related Articles Lopez Why is the Trump administration derailing Alzheimer s research Trump won t axe Head Start Bay Area families are still worried Bracing for federal cuts Santa Clara County executive pulls millions in federal funds out of the upcoming budget CSU students start indefinite hunger strike in endorsement of Palestinians Q A How Trump s proposed financial aid changes impact California students Tourism accounts for of the U S financial system and it will struggle if fear keeps away high-spending Europeans And deporting students and researchers isn t a good idea either America has led the world in science innovation and industry precisely because it attracts the best people Harvard s Kseniia Petrova isn t working on cancer detection any more because she s in a facility in Louisiana with her visa canceled for an offense traveling into the U S with biological samples that is normally accorded only a minor fine The U S worked as the center of research and innovation because even as a visitor you had rights there Take that away replace it with a system where you constantly feel at the mercy of apparatchiks who take pleasure in tormenting you and American universities will be as attractive to foreign talent as say China s I started avoiding trips to the mainland and Hong Kong particular years ago but I never dreamed I would one day put the U S in the same category A U S that cuts itself off from the world will be one that is less vibrant less understood and less loved An America nobody wants to visit would no longer be the center of the world Mihir Sharma is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist Bloomberg Distributed by Tribune Content Agency