{"id":8158,"date":"2025-04-10T14:24:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T14:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/8158\/"},"modified":"2025-04-10T14:24:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T14:24:48","slug":"i-canceled-my-plans-to-visit-the-us-as-a-european-i-dont-feel-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/8158\/","title":{"rendered":"I Canceled My Plans to Visit the US; As a European, I Don’t Feel Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m based in the UK, but I’ve visited the United States<\/a> three times in my life.<\/p>\n

When my kids were small, I brought them to Florida for a once-in-a-lifetime trip exploring the state. On my family’s second visit to the US, we headed to Texas after a cruise, stopping by the Houston Zoo and having the best Tex-Mex food I’ve ever eaten.<\/p>\n

On my third, my partner and I spent a few days in Boston<\/a>. Although it rained the whole time, we had a blast visiting coffee shops and enjoying the city’s waterfront views.<\/p>\n

As a European, I always felt welcome in the country and never worried about my visits beyond the usual travel inconveniences like long flights and tiredness.<\/p>\n

However, this year, my concerns about visiting the US<\/a> have increased \u2014 so much so that I called off my travel plans to see Niagara Falls in New York this summer.<\/p>\n

Recent headlines have me worried about crossing the border<\/p>\n

\"Author<\/p>\n

My partner and I have gone to Boston together.<\/p>\n

Samantha Priestley<\/p>\n

Following the Trump administration’s orders to increase national security<\/a>, I’ve seen more stories about travelers facing scrutiny at the US border and even having their devices searched by US Customs and Border Protection officers.<\/p>\n

One headline-making incident involved a French researcher who was denied entry to the US<\/a> in March after his phone was searched.<\/p>\n

French officials said officers found the researcher’s opinions about the Trump administration on his phone. The US later denied<\/a> his removal was based on political beliefs \u2014 but this incident gave me pause.<\/p>\n

Although these device searches<\/a> have been legal for a long time and are still considered relatively rare, recent incidents like these set off my internal alarm bells.<\/p>\n

When I shared my concerns with American friends, they advised me not to say that I’m a writer at the border and to pack a “burner phone” with me instead of my real one if I visit the US. (Folks in online travel forums and even Canadian immigration lawyers<\/a> have suggested using “burner phones” while traveling to the US, too.)<\/p>\n

I’ve also been reading about a number of tourists visiting the US<\/a> who have been detained in the past few months.<\/p>\n

One British tourist was detained for 19 days<\/a> at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center after trying to go from Canada to the US in February.<\/p>\n

She said she was traveling on a tourist visa and staying with a host family in return for doing chores. She told the BBC that even though she was not paid, she was told she violated her visa.<\/p>\n

Regardless of whether that tourist had legitimate visa violations or paperwork issues, I don’t want to worry that one small mix-up could get me sent to a detention center in the US.<\/p>\n

Related stories<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

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Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know<\/p>\n

Attitudes and guidelines seem to constantly be shifting<\/p>\n

\"Author<\/p>\n

I’ve had great trips to the US \u2014 for now, though, I’m going to hold off on making plans to go back. <\/p>\n

Samantha Priestley<\/p>\n

For now, my plans to travel to the US with or without my partner are on pause.<\/p>\n

I’m not the only person reconsidering travel to the US, especially considering that flight bookings from Canada and Europe to the US<\/a> have dipped in the past few months.<\/p>\n

The UK, along with numerous other countries like Canada, Finland, France, Germany, and Portugal, has also issued travel warnings<\/a> to its citizens who are considering visiting the US.<\/p>\n

Right now, the future just seems so uncertain. If I were to visit the US a few weeks from now (as I’d originally planned) I don’t feel confident I would be allowed into the country or that I wouldn’t be detained over a small error or misstep.<\/p>\n

If I did enter without issue, I’m not sure what the political situation or atmosphere regarding Europeans might be even just a few weeks from now. After all, in the UK, we’ve heard frequent reports about the ever-changing political landscape in the US.<\/p>\n

I’m also worried after President Donald Trump’s anti-Europe sentiments<\/a>, repeated statements about wanting to make Canada the 51st state, and comments about taking Greenland from Denmark.<\/p>\n

As an anxious person, all these changes and feelings of instability make me worry I won’t feel welcome in the US. I know so many foreigners visit on a daily basis without any issues, and I could be completely fine on my trip, but I’d feel too stressed to enjoy it.<\/p>\n

I look forward to a time when I’ll feel comfortable going back to the US, maybe once relations between Europe and America feel less strained. <\/p>\n

For now, this year, I’m planning to visit Italy instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I’m based in the UK, but I’ve visited the United States three times in my life. When my…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[943,2000,299,5187,5197,5198,5196,5194,5029,5200,5199,3114,5195,5201,1166,16,978],"class_list":{"0":"post-8158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-french-researcher","13":"tag-headline-making-incident","14":"tag-paperwork-issue","15":"tag-phone","16":"tag-plan","17":"tag-second-visit","18":"tag-state","19":"tag-time","20":"tag-tourist","21":"tag-travel-plan","22":"tag-trump-administration","23":"tag-uk","24":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114314131673483629","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}