French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found
France’s research minister said a French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/trump-musk-french-scientist-detainedOpen linkView original on lemm.ee1082
Comments139
The Nazis literally did this with a law. They made it illegal to be critical of the party. Fuck the alarm, we've already been had.
Yup. "But we're not there yet", so they say. "Too soon to act rashly".
'First they started mass deportations, but it wasn't a corrupt system yet, so we did not act.
Then they started refusing people who were critical of them, but it wasn't a corrupt system yet, so we did not act.
Then they started blatantly taking money from the poor and give it to the rich, but it wasn't a corrupt system yet, so we did not act.
Finally they fully took over the nation, but by then all the people who would have acted were already gone and dealt with.'
Not all, but the gist of it. Thankfully some bubbles of resistance are starting to form in the US, but the main people who were elected to uphold the law and fight this democraticly are already bribed or blackmailed, so it's in great part up to the people, and whatever stance the army ends up taking when they are forced to choose between loyalty to the constitution, or an individual.
the scientists were smart enough to flee Germany or places that nazis occupied. i see this going to happen with USa if not already, US already has a problem with shortages in some areas of stem. its a complex set of problems all around, this latest fiasco just adds into it.
Might as well start wearing red triangles now🔻
Nazis are Nazis, the rest is semantics.
Yeah, but when you say "The Nazis literally did this with a law" it's not entirely clear if you mean the German Nazis from the 1940s or the American Nazis from the 2020s
Why does that matter? They're both Nazis.
Nazis are Nazis. Ask the people in that El Salvadoran prison if the boots forcing their necks down look like 40s or 2020s Nazis. Their agony is your answer.
The Magas
Usually I respect the honesty more than the subterfuge.
But when it's Nazi's. Nope. Wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.
You respect the honesty because it reveals people's character. And if a person thinks that Taylor Swift is an awful singer, then cool, you can agree or disagree.
But when it's honesty about contempt for your fellow man? A punch in the face is the only thing that works.
One thing authoritarian systems have in common is a permanent atmosphere of fear. Honesty is highly unwanted there, integrity will get you straight into trouble. Fascist systems are built on hypocrisy and fear.
Translation: if you're going to the US you might have to immediately find a flight back because their government might go through your phone and find out that you rightfully criticised their great orange leader. Glad I managed to visit before, America can go and choke on their aspirations.
Sounds like a case of “MAGA snowflake syndrome” smh
Actual TDS. In that TDS is anyone who likes that fascist.
Always has been
What? A scientist who is critical of Trump?? How can that be???
How strange that all the people who think don't like Trump?
Studies have consistwntly shown that the more education one gets, the more their political view skews left. It explains why colleges, staffed and managed by PhDs, tend to be left-wing. That's why the Conservative Propaganda Machine has to constantly attack education.
Yeah I've been waiting for someone in academia to piss Trump off enough for him to go full-on Pol Pot...
or one that contradicts him, aka fauci.
Republicans are really mad that reality has a left wing bias
There tends to be a general distaste toward politicians in general among the scientific community.
"The most useless creature on earth, directly followed by the second most useless, the journalist" one of my chemistry profs (a highly respected authority within the chemical community) used to say about politicians. A slightly extreme opinion, IMO, but he predicted several upcoming "scandals" caused by the press' and politicians' complete ignorance of chemistry and inability to think scientifically. His predictions turned out to be 100% right.
I fucking wonder why... Surely it's not the outright hostility towards them by this administration
My negative opinion predates the Trump administration. I never liked how they speak so confidently with limited and unsubstantiated evidence.
Amazing to think that they criticised "freedom of speech" in Europe
Freedom for me but not for thee
Funny that the US has become more like Russia since Trump was elected.
Who would have thought. (Literally everyone)
How’d they get into his phone? Face or fingerprint?
Make sure you turn off biometrics before traveling. They can’t force you to disclose a passcode.
EDIT: Actually, if you have to travel to the USA, wipe your phone before you leave.
IIRC they can compel you to unlock your phone. Or just deny you entry if you don't. It's best to make sure you travel with a 'clean' phone and PC, border patrol got ridiculous powers in the patriot act and nobody's ever rolled any of it back despite decades of abuses.
or avoid going to america
Definitely.
As a Latin American, the US is the very last county I want to visit on the entire continent. Literally the only thing that I kind of want to see there is the Lego store in NYC.
I've been very purposefully avoiding the US ever since the Patriot Act exactly because it became possible for the TSA to riffle through your electronics (even confiscate them) and do this kind of shit.
Then on top of that festering pit of autocracy which, by the way, nobody reversed in all this time, Trump added the risk of ICE detention and "free trip to El Salvador (to go check a mega prison there)".
Yep, 12 years of Democrats in charge and none of them did anything to reign in this whole apparatus that could easily be abused by an autocrat. Now Trump has a turnkey surveillance state that can be turned on anyone in the country. All your internet traffic, current location, licence plate readers, face recognition, etc. It was all created to alternately catch terrorists or pedophiles, and now Trump is going to use it against anyone he doesn't like.
And it's not like nobody was warned, there was plenty of dissent about the patriot act from experts and the people, but politicians were just like 'don't worry, it'll only be used against terrorists'. Guess what, everyone's going to be deemed a terrorist now. They're trying to charge Luigi with terrorism already (and those are state charges in a Democratic state).
Yeah, of course. The patriot act was already written way before 9/11, it was a wishlist and they only needed the right excuse to pass it. It's something they'd always wanted to begin with (both Republicans and Democrats), and it's politically not possible to repeal.
ive seen people buy budget/used phones and leave thier main ones at home.
I've got old phones that I've been considering for this use.
They both still work, minus the cellular data. So I'm having a tough time deciding between making my actual phone squeaky clean, or using the old ones have making it a bitch to get home from the airport with no internet to call an uber/friend/deal with airline shenanigans.
Since when did travel to the US become worse than to Russia? This is shocking...
They can still make your life difficult though. I think the better option is don't fly into or through US territory if you can help it.
Get a burner for ANY international travel.
Consider it an insurance expense as a part of the trip.
They will also ask you for your password for online accounts and refuse entry if you don't. And as we have all seen recently that does not necessarily mean "next flight home".
people can make social media accounts full of soft core rat erotica just for travel purposes.
John Oliver? Is it really you?
Just don't come here unless you have to. And get a burner if you do come.
If you have an android device, setup a second user account with nothing on it and use that when going through customs.
I was looking for this as well. It seems like a rather important piece of info for the article to leave out.
Years ago they would already ask for social media accounts and email address on US visa forms, it was creepy back them , scary now.
So, what if I as an american, travel to canada. On my re-entry, am i going to get my phone searched for anti-maga stuff?
They could try. They can compel you to open it with Face ID or fingerprint. If that’s turned off they cannot compel you to disclose your passcode. They can seize your phone. They cannot prevent you from entering the country.
They’re probably only going to do it with some kind of suspicion. But that suspicion could be the border protection officer is having a bad day.
Thanks. It's fucking wild the things we have to be concerned about in this upside down timeline.
The US has turned in Russia for real. Russians were checking phones at the border when the war started.
usa was always “Russia”. The difference is usa have a massive propaganda apparatus to make us think you are the goodies and who are the baddies
Well it was limited to " the browns" before.
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/13/us/citizen-nasa-engineer-detained-at-border-trnd/index.html
2017? Maybe earlier?
Wow, ok. You, guys (Americans), are royally fucked over there. Yet another reason not to visit the US ever.
I told my wife before I could never go to the US because of the stuff I write online, now I'm sure of it
You're not missing a fucking thing, buddy.
But think of the endless suburban car parks and Walmarts. Such culture.
Personally I'd like to visit the US for their national parks, or whatever is left after this administration policies.
Paving all of them over would be a huge endeavor. I hope Putins orange labrador doesn't take is as a challenge.
Eh, I think I might be turned off visiting ever again.
I have to admit that ironically "Days Gone" made me fall in love with your nature.
These guys are handing their phones over to show work itinerary in their emails amd the immigration officers are then going through all their other emails and messages.
Never, never, never, hand your unlocked phone over to an immigration officer. Print everything you need out before hand.
Yeah but he can just say "hand over your unlocked phone or I will reject your entry" and then it's the same thing
Go to the US with a dedicated phone, just like to China.
Except nobody molested your phone.
If you use fingerprint or face scan to unlock your phone, they can compel you to unlock your phone.
If you use a PIN, they cannot.
Restart your android before going through customs
Honestly, dude probably dodged a bullet. Stay away from our shit hole country
Fuck this shitty ass country.
My entry to China was really easy. I'm very concerned about my return trip to the US. I have to come back at my home and family are there.. doors anyone know if I'm denied entity if I can just book and flight and leave? Why do I need to have the government deport off in rolling to go on my own?
Well if you don't see a message from me after Saturday, you can assume the worst.
The cruelty is the point, so I imagine you would be detained and forcibly removed. They would make it as miserable for you as possible.
That's not only US either, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, China - all can coerce you into unlocking your devices and detain you if you refuse which is fucking crazy.
Never ever give them this right even if you trust the government as they'll make a redundant copy and government data security is such a joke you'll be 100% pwnd.
Make sure your laptop is encrypted and disable face unlock on your phone. They can detain you for 24h in most places (6h in US) and will tell you to buy a return ticket. Do not take the risk even if you have nothing to hide.
As a security expert - these laws are 100% authoritarian abuse. As if terrorists can't host their encrypted terrorist files offsite and pull them from public wifi when they enter the country. It's an absolutely joke.
I'm not quite sure I'd call that trivial, haha.
There's also the option of making a hidden partition or otherwise doing stenography within the device. I'm guessing for most travelers just pretty surface level hiding of things will be enough, though. TSA agents are not cybersecurity experts.
I am going to die in a concentration camp before 2028
if we are poop buddies i will share my sardines with you
Haha, I'll never get into the USA. Trump is a snowflake melted on a turd and he can fuck a melon.
Pineapple
Coconut
All countries should advise their citizens against travelling to the USA. Edit: fixed typo.
It should be common sense.
Hey, that's a good thing in my book, I guess.
Same way as America prospered with talent fleeing a corrupt Europe in the past, now Europe can get that lost talent back from a corrupt America. The more they feel unwelcome and undervalued the more they will flock or stay wherever their talent can flourish and advance our progress as a society.
No complaints from me on that. 🤷♂️
Once the funding dries up the talent will be forced to leave. The question is, is Europe prepared to take advantage? I'm not so sure- the worst outcome would be talent just being squandered and the world ending up with a lost decade.
Would be helpful if we could see those messages so we can form an opinion.
Yes, death threats and rape threats are a good reason why a visitor should not be admitted to the United States.
Fucking hell. Freedom of speech isn't a thing anymore and all those shitheads who were crying about simply being called out for saying things are fine with the government punishing people for saying things.
I wonder how they search it. I doubt they manually read every fucking text message in all apps, so I guess they search for keywords or something.
So, let's say someone wanted to get someone in trouble, they could write them an email with some "incriminating" white text on white background and have them stopped by the thought police at the border.
It would be funny if they stopped some Canadian Mexican returning from Cancun and found shittalk about Trump on his phone.
Btw. Does anyone have Ted Cruz's email address?
I have a burner but it seems like you need to create social media accounts filled with non political content and keep them updated so they don't look fake. Anyone know how to automate this?
don't do this. it's a waste of your time. if you're actually scared of the us government, the answer is to stop using social media
The answer is to stop visiting the US.
I mean, there could be situations where one doesn't have a choice. Definitely try and avoid it, though, and don't go for fun.
Elbows up buddy! 🍁
Not just the US government.
The issue is border control won't believe you don't have any social media accounts and might refuse entry.
What if all my accounts are old and haven't been updated in a decade? That's kind of outrageous.
Freedom of speech, eh? Guess I'm banned if they find out about this account or my Bluesky account.
There's no mention in the article if this search was voluntary, or not.
Edit: For the downvoters, please point out where I was wrong; I'd honestly really like to know if it was voluntary or not.
ThiscommentislicensedunderCCBY-NC-SA4.0It's "voluntary" in the sense that either you allow it or you don't get into the country.
That's forced. Since when was it a thing?
Since the PATRIOT Act at least, but possibly since Reagan's Executive Order 12333.
Looks like there is also a court case from 1977 that is related.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_search_exception
Every border patrol agent within 100 miles of any US border has this authority and has for a looooong fucking time.
It's honestly a little shocking this isn't more well known.
A 2-1 circuit split means that the 2 currently prevails, thus making border searching of electronics illegal unless you're within the 11th's jurisdiction (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, while the guy was arrested traveling to a Texas conference), no?
I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and say they're ignoring whatever court precedent actually exists at this point anyway.
Also, a phrase I've heard a lot "you can beat the charge but you can't beat the ride." Meaning, like Luigi Mangione, you can argue in court about illegal seizures after it has already happened. I'm guessing most border patrol agents just plan on losing court cases like this, because they know, in the moment, they can get away with it.
I mean they fucking tortured a white European green card holder recently.
What is this news? I haven't heard of that yet.
https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-03-14/green-card-holder-from-new-hampshire-interrogated-at-logan-airport-detained
My understanding is that any protections like that only apply to citizens while at the border and not foreigners looking to travel.
It's not like the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to people with just visas either.
I have a quote above. As SF said, agents who do that would be violating court rulings.
Was that explicitly said to him? Did they tell him that if he refused the inspection that he would be denied entry?
BTW, what you described is a mandatory inspection.
ThiscommentislicensedunderCCBY-NC-SA4.0Consent in a situation like this is difficult to establish, to the point of it being pointless. Your comment implies to me that you think if the person said "OK" to a search request then whatever happened next is their own fault.
Consider just the situation where you're in the immigration line and two uniformed officers walk up to you and say, "please come with us." If you go with them, is that voluntary? If you say "yes" I just think "voluntary" doesn't hold much meaning. What happens if you don't volunteer to go with them? Surely, they say, "come with us now or you'll be arrested." And if you don't volunteer at that point, they'll physically restrain you and take you away.
Since most people are able to understand the subtext of the situation, they're able to tell that, "please come with us" actually means "you are required to come with us now. You may either walk of your own accord, or we will take you captive and punish you beyond whatever we initially intended." So, there's not any consent happening. Just deciding whether being beaten and dragged away in public would be helpful to you, and in many cases it is not.
You might be confusing US law around unlawful search and seizure with US law around border crossings. While the ACLU's position is that the 4th amendment trumps CBP, CBP's position is that it does not and that you cannot stop them.
Hard disagree.
Did they ask him if they could search and he said yes, or no? Or did they just take his device away from him and did a search without his permission?
Consenting to a search, or have one mandated by a judge's order, is one of the fundamental pillars of citizen rights and laws in this country.
Was it a legal or illegal search? That's not a pointless question to ask.
ThiscommentislicensedunderCCBY-NC-SA4.0I notice you asked for an explanation and then only sort-of read the first sentence.
No, I read the whole thing, fully. I just disagreed with your analogy, thought it was a bad one, too verbose and obfuscating of the subject being talked about. Also it didn't cover someone searching your belongings with/without your permission, the subject being talked about. Law officials have more legal leeway to detain you than they do to search your belongings without your permission, so your analogy doesn't work (especially when you throw in beatings into it).
Also, didn't think your last paragraph was legally accurate, but didn't want to bother arguing the point, since 'amendment > law > policy/rule' is a well-known given. I'm aware of the difference. When I asked my original question, it was to confirm if the border enforcement people were actually honoring the 4th amendment, or not, whatever their thought processes were.
I did appreciate you taking the time to reply (and civilly at that) though, thank you. P.S. I hope the tone of my reply wasn't too harsh, it wasn't meant to be rude, just straightforward.
ThiscommentislicensedunderCCBY-NC-SA4.0WTF is a voluntary search?
"Attention all flight passengers. This is ICE on the speaker. If you want to be searched, please raise your hand and we will get to you shortly."
"May I have your permission to search through your phone?"
"Yes."
ThiscommentislicensedunderCCBY-NC-SA4.0i just downvoted because everyone else was doing it. I actually like your comment
that's just silly. you don't have to press a button
well its better than the button pressing me
I just upvoted because everyone else wasn't. I actually don't like your comment.
what a rebel
The USA has no place criticising the actions of other countries. Never has.
I seriously doubt the intelligence of anyone still traveling to the USA. I hope whatever project he is working on is not critical.
these travels are scheduled months even years in advance depending on the field of study, nobody could have predicted how much worse second Trumps term would be. also other than travelling to somewhere where its bad much more reliable indicator of low intelligence are very confident statements outside of one's own depth.
I would add inability to use proper punctuation to that criteria.
*those criteria, criterion being singular.
These types of things are usually scheduled well in advance. Just one example, it is worth noting that I am not saying that this was the reason the scientist traveled to the United States, scientific centers with certain types of very expensive equipment usually rent it to projects from other scientific institutes and universities, sometimes with such high demand that you can wait years for it to be available for your project.
You sound like an internet addict who never lived real life. What the hell is with this logic?
Welcome to Trumps America.
Where everything that Trump doesnt like, or is legitimately critical of him, or is just an opinion that Republicans don't like.. is Terrorism.
Seems an awful lot like that oppressive government tyranny the ammosexuals were feverishly polishing their rifle barrels to, doesnt it? I wonder why they are all so suspiciously silent! /s
This might be normal opsec for a foreign agent, but absolutely ridiculous to expect average people or some French doctor to adhere to.
The reality is this issue would never have happened just three months ago, and the reason it's happening now is fascism.
The laws haven't changed. This didn't start three months ago.
Phone searches: not new. People being rejected at the border because of posts critical of the incoming president, yes, that is very much a new thing.
Would love to see some stories of people rejected at the border for criticism of Biden or Obama if you can find any.
People already worried then. There was no need for the law to grand this power. We don't need laws if wo rely on people to be just.
I think Europeans, coming from a sane place where border crossings are more of a formality than anything else, don't expect a plane to the US to be a time machine/teleporter to East Berlin.
This is completely unnecessary if you travel to a western democracy, like an EU country, Canada, Australia, etc. America is no longer part of that group though, sadly.