Tim Blair

If this woman thinks no-one can annoy you on an airplane, I guarantee you she hasn't flown very much.

As I said to My Moral Leader when this story broke way back when, My bullcrap detector went off big-time with that woman. Every part of her has been "groped"? Riiiight. Smethurst is just annoyed because she doesn't think the rules should apply to white, middle class women like her, and you can tell from the picture of her looking ready for Ascot that the media is running with this that we're supposed to agree and be horrified. "They've picked the wrong one this time." Well, no, Suzie, they picked the right one. You didn't have the right visa, you were detained, searched and deported like anyone else would be in the circumstances.

I've dealt with my fair share of jerky immigration staff over the years, and I'm no fan of the attitudes I've encountered from most of them. But at the end of the day, they have an important job to do, and in this case, they did it. Smethurst didn't think she had to play by the rules, and her ass got deported. Pardon me while I fail to weep tears of blood for her.

I smell an ambitious, low-to-mid level magazine staffer whose found a way to get her byline/name out there and generate a little buzz around it...clearly she hasn't figured out this makes her look like an unaware moron (is there any journo in Oz who doesn't know how to avoid this problem, and if she's travelled enough, she should know that the LAX immigration guys are pricks anyway)...

"She remains perplexed and emotionally bruised..."

This is a journalist?

So she wants a snack and the first thing she asks for is French fries?

"What she didn’t know was that her assignment and travel plans, along with the chicken soup and stroll through Central Park, had been terminated the moment she confirmed she was a journalist"

That's right, because even the most junior DHS lackey knows the dangers of giving chicken soup to journalists.....

You didn't have the right visa, you were detained, searched and deported like anyone else would be in the circumstances.

I have no brief for stupid journalists, but why the big rigmarole?
Does it really take 14 hours and the intervention of the Consul-General to send her back on the next plane?

Congrats to the USA for keeping anyone from the "No Idea" out of their country. WE should do the same.

While I'm generally supportive of the US, there are times when the arrogance, high-handedness and hypocrisy of that country leaves me staggered.

"When Smethurst’s editor, who planned to visit the United States on business, inquired about obtaining an I-Visa, she was told it would not be necessary. She is going to get one anyway." Smethurst had been to the US 8 times before with the same documentation without problem. Clearly she had AT MOST committed a tiny mistake - a technicality. And yet the "she deserved it" brigade so vocal in this forum think it correct that she should be detained all day WITHOUT FOOD, and hardly anything to drink, and should be handcuffed. God what would be the appropriate punishment if she had done something serious? I know - imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay for 2 years without charge, contact or access to a lawyer!

To the self-righteous commentators here, I wonder whether a single one of you has not at some stage made a tiny error or omission in your travel documentation. Perhaps one of you will do so on a visit to Sydney (or elsewhere) one day in which case I hope you get the same treatment as the journo.

Question for Tim:

Please assuage my curiosity,

on your recent visit to America, did you do any work as a journalist, and if so, did you have an I-visa?

no fibs now.

Tom, all day without food? They gave her an orange, a fruit drink and a bread roll. The cleansing diet is huge with New Idea readers! She did the right thing and binned the roll - it has no place in a cleansing diet.

“I’m interviewing Olivia Newton-John,” Smethurst replied

Let me get this straight, she flew all the way to the United States just to interview someone? Hasn't this woman ever heard of the telephone?

Did she really mean to say that an airplane is one of the few places in the world where one can turn off their cell phone?

Moron.

even if she hadn't been given food, so what? oh my god, the white woman didn't get food for one day! call an ambulance!

[MEOW] That missed meal threw her bulimia schedule off. [/MEOW]

INS agents have had a reputation, even among us Americans, for being a**-****s for decades now. You do not have to be an American citizen walking in some border town north of mexico being approached by some 'migras' who ask you where you were born to know they can be trouble. I would recommend a reading of John MAsters' account of his immigration to the US, "Pilgrim Son," for the details of how it was for a white male from an allied country in the 40s. Smethhurst's problem is that they are now 'working to rule,' which for some is a form of union slowdown but in this case is just covering their asses. The diplomat clearly believed I-Visas are optional, forgetting that for the bureaucracy what is optional is now mandatory.
Two weeks before Sept. 11 a Russian friend flew into New York from London, where he normally spent the summer. I was waiting for him. And waiting. All the Asians came through, the Africans, the Middle Easterners. Igor, whom I suspect was the only 'white' on the entire BA flight, was the last to be passed. It seems they asked him where he was staying, but since I was handling the hotel arragements he did not think it worth knowing, although I had sent him all the details. Two weeks later...

There were good reasons of course for being on the look out for a 60ish Russian male who spoke good English -- rather than being an academic and SF writer Igor could have been a 'vor v zakone,' Mafioso godfather (although the hitmen brought in by the Russian mob tend to be much younger); the Russian mob has become a real problem. Two weeks before Sept 11, the INS bureaucrats in New York could take the risk and let him through. Today, he'd get the same treatment as the Australian.

Tom,

Yes, acts of journalism were committed. But that was not the purpose of my visit, which is the question asked. The purpose of my visit was to liberate Reno from the cruel regime of Ken Layne and install a puppet Australian government.

ilibcc, read the article, dickhead!

Most people would classify being deprived of food from before 8AM until 6PM (and then something with only about 10 calories) as being 'all day without food'.

What is the description they use at Camp X-ray?

"And yet the "she deserved it" brigade so vocal in this forum think it correct that she should be detained all day WITHOUT FOOD, and hardly anything to drink, and should be handcuffed"

I think the generally expressed opinion is that (a) maybe this is an exageration, and (b) perhaps there are reasons she left out of her account. If everything was exactly as she describes without omission it does seem an unwarranted punitive action.

I have never been in a situation like she describes, although I have been detained, searched, and questioned by various American governmental authorities. I have seen people who were perfectly pleasant to me reverse their congenial attitude when others decide the very idea of being questioned or searched was an insult. Even worse, she could have suggested their action was representative of a police state. Shockingly, people who do these sorts of things often forget to mention it later.

There's such a disconnect between experince and this story it's impossible not to suspect she didn't tell us everything.

John Costello writes of his Russian friend who was either delayed or refused entry (it's not clear which) on the basis of not knowing where he would be staying.

John, you appear to think the action of the immigration officials is reasonable, and required if, for example, terrorism is to be combatted. I think you are fooling yourself. This sort of petty bureaucracy does nothing to fight terrorism or organised crime, there is simply no logic behind it. You believe your Russian friend looked suspicious, so the officers were wary of letting him in. They based their final decision on whether he knew where he would be staying. Where is the logic in that? There simply is none!

Meanwhile, the real terrorist or criminal has done his homework, has been advised in great detail by his organisation of every possible pitfall, has his paperwork perfectly in order, and knows exactly where he is staying (for the first night that is) and will have no trouble from the immigration officials.

None of this perfectly affects me as I have no intention of going to the US. But please don't think it is in any way useful or necessary.

"Meanwhile, the real terrorist or criminal has done his homework, has been advised in great detail by his organisation of every possible pitfall, has his paperwork perfectly in order, and knows exactly where he is staying (for the first night that is) and will have no trouble from the immigration officials. "

Actually, it's very common for criminals to make mistakes of this sort. Timothy McVeigh failed to escape from Oklahoma City because he was pulled over for having no license plates on his getaway car, and frequently one reads about a large shipment of drugs being interdicted after the drivers miss a stop sign or drive erratically.

Tom sez:

"None of this perfectly affects me as I have no intention of going to the US."

Good. We've got enough whiny citizens; we don't need to add whiny foreigners to the mix.

"But please don't think it is in any way useful or necessary."

Okay, whatever you say.

I quite dislike the INS, they are overly officious ass****s. Having said that, I don't find anything particularly wrong with their treatment of Ms Smethurst. Having spent nearly 20 years with the police now, I can tell you a few things about what happened here...

1. She is not telling the whole story of her interaction with the INS.

2. It is not at all uncommon for perfectly law abiding citizens, when being treated as suspicious persons, to over react both verbally AND physically. Handcuffing people in custody is a safety measure, aimed primarily at the safety of the person in custody. Sure, it's demeaning, frustrating, and frightening. But does anyone NOT understand what would have happened if, out of sheer frustrated rage, she had taken a swing at one of those officers?

3. If it were clear cut that she was a criminal, to be charged with a crime, she would have been "placed in the system", boxed up and sent to jail, as it were. This would have, among other things, expedited both her required phone call and her lunch. Because they were NOT SURE what to do with her, there was no routine to follow, and a decent meal was overlooked.

4. For the same reasons as (3), she didn't get put right back on the next outbound flight.

5. Getting the Consul General involved had nothing to do with the INS, it was HER move, and it delayed things further.

And a special note for svanny....

REAL terrorists fuck up on a regular basis. Generally speaking, that is how we catch them. We didn't catch Mohammed Atta and his crew because people like the INS were not doing their job properly, they were letting suspicious stuff slide. A cop in Virginia that stopped them for a traffic violation and let them go on their way with invalid drivers licenses because they were foreigners who made a simple mistake. We're a little paranoid about that stuff these days.

Tim replys:
"...acts of journalism were committed...

ALLEGED acts. Get it right.

"The purpose of my visit was to liberate Reno from the cruel regime of Ken Layne and install a puppet Australian government."

Which puppet got the job?

Handcuffing people in custody is a safety measure, aimed primarily at the safety of the person in custody.

Yeah, just like the 'anti-fascist' Berlin wall, which was there for the safety of the East Germans.

All this reminds me of a recent attempt to acquire an I-visa at the American embassy in the Netherlands. I had to call a special embassy telephone number (an 0900 number, that is) and to wait in a telephone queue for about 10 minutes, listening to a voice response system with a voice speaking something that somewhat resembled English. After having spent 8 euros (that's about 13 Ozzie bucks for you) listening to a computer, the connection was terminated telling me that 'all slots for a visa appointment had been allocated. Please call againt tomorrow'.
At which time I decided to stuff it all and tell the INS I went to visit the USA to work on my book (which was indeed half of my reason for going there), and 'forget' to mention the journalism part.
I'd be happy to jump through any hoops the INS/DHS wants to set up, but please don't pull them away when I'm trying to make a jump...

Dear Peggy Sue,

The unfortunate fact is, you are wrong. Let a pissed off lady journalist have her hands free and she is liable to haul off an slap (or worse) an officer. This is a felony offense, and she WILL be charged. That will cost her plenty of money in legal fees.

Once that slap connects, she will HAVE to be cuffed, and since she is already slapping, she is pretty certain to resist being cuffed. At the very least she will get some bruises out of that encounter, and she will likely commit further incidents of assault. The outcome of that will be some actual jail time for her, a year or more in a Federal penitentiary because she screwed up her paperwork. THAT certainly seems unfair, doesn't it?

When I say that we cuff these people for their own safety and welfare, it's the Gods Honest Truth.

Tim, I agree with you 90 percent of the time, but you've got this one wrong. A petite Anglo-Australian journalist makes a technical mistake on her visa and she gets treated like a criminal, being held for a day in custody, put in handcuffs and body searched. To say that the US customs officers stuffed this one up isn't to be anti-American. And to previous posters: yes, it is relevant that she's a petite white female who edits a mass circulation women's magazine. I'd say this would put her in the absolutely lowest category of potential Islamic terrorists. To try to prove that you're "evenhanded" by roughly treating such a woman is a misconceived policy.

When I say that we cuff these people for their own safety and welfare, it's the Gods Honest Truth.

I'm sure that neither of us will convince the other, however, what you're saying translates to me as:
Police and INS regularly treat their customers with such officious high-handedness, that it is expected that said customers will become enraged and violent.

"Why do you chain your dog?"
"Well, when I tease him, he tries to bite me"

Mark Richardson:

"...it is relevant that she's a petite white female who edits a mass circulation women's magazine. I'd say this would put her in the absolutely lowest category of potential Islamic terrorists."

Er. What if the petite white female in question is married or girlfriends with an Arab male, who just happens to be a terrorist? It's not really all that far-fetched a scenario. Petite white femaleness is not a guarantee of innocence. That being said, I do agree that simply deciding to harrass a person solely on their race/class is not only a ridiculous way to practice "evenhandedness," it is no better than any other sort of racism/classism. However, what guarantee do we have that "harrassing" this woman was done merely because the security crew needed to harrass someone white and female to fulfill their quota?

This whole incident, if anything, shows off the problem with the entire American immigration/customs system: Rather than waiting until she reached Los Angeles to determine that "things were not in order", why wasn't pre-screening done at the originating end before she even got on the plane in the first place?

Miles: how?

Police and INS regularly treat their customers with such officious high-handedness, that it is expected that said customers will become enraged and violent.

Actually, it's the fault of our oversupply of lawyers. 98% of our procedures (the ones we must follow or the world will end) are aimed at preventing lawsuits, or, in the worst case, preventing the loss of a lawsuit. If we cuff EVERYONE, then we don't get sued over the rare freakout.

Also, while I wouldn't argue with viewing the INS in a "customer service" relationship, that is NOT the case with the police. We are primarily dealing with people who have been accused of crimes and seem guilty. (NOTE: the "presumption of innocence" only applies to the courts.) They are NOT "customers". What they are, in the normal course, is citizens, with the rights and priviledges that implies. Interestingly, that specifically does not apply to the "customers" of the INS.

...it is relevant that she's a petite white female...

Rachel Corrie was a petite white female too. So was Bernadette Dorn, if you remember her.

I can answer Andrea's question. I went to New York from Brussels two months ago and went through around 30 questions in the Delta queue at Brussels airport; once it was established that I was legitimately an Australian living in France flying from Belgium to the US (rather than the setup of a nationality joke...) then I was let through.

This sort of thoroughness would have stopped this whole problem with the aforementioned sheila.

Anytime that I'm heading to the US now under the visa waiver program; I'm simply going to hand over two folio sheets detailing my life experience and future hopes and dreams. Save me having to go through those bloody questions.

Miles: how?

Simple. The United States already has various rules, restrictions, etc. for flights entering (or flying over, for that matter) the country. One additional requirement could be that airports with airlines flying to the US must have a US Customs/Immigration checkpoint before boarding.

Better yet, eliminate the "visa waiver" program altogether (which will probably happen after the next election), and require every traveler to the US to have a visa.