Well, while I was awake at oh dark hundred this morning, I ran across an article about Portugal adding us to their travel warning list. “Portugal said it has updated its travel advice for the U.S. to reflect tighter entry conditions and changes around gender recognition. The Portuguese foreign ministry confirmed the changes in a statement to Newsweek.” I *knew* the list was going to keep growing. Dammit. Are we going to have to put up travel warnings for traveling *to* those countries also? Do *we* need to worry about getting back into the US?
“Portugal is now one of a growing number of European countries that have updated travel advice for the U.S., as America’s stricter immigration and enforcement practices under President Donald Trump have caused global concern. It comes following a number of U.S. border-entry incidents that have happened in recent weeks, including a French scientist being denied entry after border officials searched his phone and found messages that were critical of Trump, and a U.K. tourist, Becky Burke, also being detained at border control.” Really? REALLY? This goes right along with ICE kidnapping people in broad daylight off a street and being flown to a detention center far from where they were living and working.
So, yea, the list is growing. So far, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Germany,
France and the U.K. have all issued new travel guidance for those wishing to travel to the U.S. (No, I don’t know what happened to my spacing.) Actually, I’m surprised Canada hasn’t done the same in terms of travel to the US. *They* are getting stopped too! And it’s CANADA, of all places! They’re right next door and have been for decades. (Duh.) Why now? It looks like our international visitors are pulling back and going somewhere else. I’m *certain* Canada is. There’s an article every couple of days about something stupid happening. And closing the access to that bookshop? Jeez!
“Other European countries have also given the same warning – that official travel documents are not a guarantee for entry into the U.S.” And the Portuguese foreign ministry also said that travelers should not make any false statements about the purposes of their stay, for example, saying they are coming for tourism when they are actually trying to enter the country for work-related reasons. Plus, the Filipino ambassador issues a warning to US green card holders amid a crackdown.
Is this ever going to end? We are losing people here, good talent going elsewhere. Our tourism department is getting hit hard. And Agent Orange’s isolationism is losing us allies, as well, including the nonsense over what green card people are saying. For heaven‘s sake, a young student was grabbed for co-writing an Op Ed article! This is getting out of hand, y’all. No wonder I’ve been trying to get a new job for almost 2 years. Everyone is pulling back, and with all the federal workers being laid off, the job market is really getting squeezed.
So the Mango Mandarin goes on and on. He doesn’t see how he’s hurting the US. For heaven‘s sake, travel warnings from other countries? We are sinking fast, but he and his oligarchs don’t care. *They* are doing fine while the rest of the US is suffering. And he refuses to see it. Make America Great Again? I think not.
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