Moore writes: "He said this was his sixth trip with his film to the U.S. this year and that this was the first time he was detained. He said they wanted to see some "official document" that he was an actual nominee. I said, 'Doesn't Immigration have Google?'"

Portrait, Michael Moore, 04/03/09. (photo: Ann-Christine Poujoulat/Getty)

My Friend Was Held and Threatened With Deportation at LAX

By Michael Moore, Reader Supported News

21 February 13

ast night was the Motion Picture Academy-sponsored dinner in Beverly Hills honoring the directors and producers of this year's five nominated films for Best Documentary. The dinner was an occasional tradition my wife and I started six years ago when we took our fellow nominees (we were nominated for Sicko) out for a meal to get to know each other. The Academy liked the idea, so this year it is holding dinners during Oscar Week for each of the separate branches' Oscar nominees.

Thus, last night, as an elected Governor of the Documentary Branch, I and my fellow Governors - Michael Apted and Rob Epstein - were co-hosting the nominee dinner for the documentary filmmakers. But one of the nominated directors was not there - Emad Burnat, the co-director of the Oscar-nominated 5 Broken Cameras. This exceptional, award-winning movie about how Emad's village in the West Bank used non-violence to oppose the Israeli's government's decision to build a wall straight through their farms and village - only to see (and capture on camera) Israeli soldiers shooting unarmed Palestinian civilians - had become the first Palestinian documentary ever to be nominated by the Academy.

While we awaited Emad's arrival from the airport - he and his family had already spent nearly six hours at an Israeli checkpoint as he was attempting to drive to Amman to catch their plane - I received an urgent text from Emad, written to me from a holding pen at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Here is what it said, in somewhat broken English:

"Urgent -- I am in the air port la they need more information why I come here

Invitation or some thing

Can you help they will send us back

If you late

Emad"

I quickly texted him back and told him that help was on the way. He wrote back to say Immigration and Customs was holding him, his wife, Soraya, and their 8-year old son (and "star" of the movie) Gibreel in a detention room at LAX. He said they would not believe him when he told them he was an Oscar-nominated director on his way to this Sunday's Oscars and to the events in LA leading up to the ceremony. He is also a Palestinian. And a olive farmer. Apparently that was too much for Homeland Security to wrap its head around.

"They are saying they are going to put us on the next plane back to Amman," he told me.

I immediately contacted the Academy CEO Dawn Hudson and COO Ric Robertson, who in turn told Academy President Hawk Koch. They got ahold of the Academy's attorney who is also partners with a top immigration attorney and they went to work on it. I called the State Department in D.C.

I told Emad to give the Homeland Security people my name and cell number and to have them call me ASAP so I could explain who he was and why they should let him go.

After being held for somewhere between one and two hours, with repeated suggestions that the U.S. may not let him into the country - saying that they may send him back home - the authorities relented and released Emad and his family.

I texted him to say we would not start the dinner until he arrived. When he got there, he was fairly shaken and upset.

He told us that this sort of treatment is something he is used to "on a daily basis under Occupation." He gave an eloquent and moving impromptu speech, in his usual soft-spoken voice, to his fellow nominees. He said this was his sixth trip with his film to the U.S. this year and that this was the first time he was detained. He said they wanted to see some "official document" that he was an actual nominee. I said, "Doesn't Immigration have Google?"

The Americans in the dining room apologized to Emad for the way our government and its security police treated him. We then sat down and ate some good ol' American roast beef.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

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+133 # Buddha 2013-02-21 10:35

Clearly we in America are "under Occupation" too, we are just too sheeplike to recognize it...and we are, as the song says, "prisoners of our own device". In our fear, we've created this DHS monstrosity, and further give up our liberties with the Patriot Act, NDAA, CISPA, etc...

+24 # cafetomo 2013-02-21 11:59

My yes, but we are safe little sheeple. Same as my 401k. Good thing I like mercury in my horsemeat. It's all the food stamps will cover, while we wait for the bank to refinance our mortgage. The house will be worth something, once these homeless all get jobs and stop vandalizing everything in desperation. I am tired of standing in the upstairs windows with my deer rifle. Maybe I will just shoot randomly, as people go by.

+6 # RLF 2013-02-21 13:07

Horse meat...Yumm!

-78 # HJ7 2013-02-21 17:15

Quoting RLF:

Horse meat...Yumm!

Yes it is good. When I lived for a while in Morocco we used to buy most of our meat in butcher shops with a painting of a horse by the door. left over from French colonial times and the meat was tasty and far cheaper than beef or goat the other popular choice.

As for Moor's bitch, since when has any country been obligated to admit undesirables such as the maker of propaganda films.

+30 # abdullahiedward 2013-02-22 01:50

On the other hand H17, it's perfectly alright to export propaganda films like Argon and Zero Dark 30 and then expect that the Producers and Directors have the right to travel freely throughout the world....

0 # pianosaurus rex 2013-02-24 09:52

Quoting HJ7:

Quoting RLF:
Horse meat...Yumm!

Yes it is good. When I lived for a while in Morocco we used to buy most of our meat in butcher shops with a painting of a horse by the door. left over from French colonial times and the meat was tasty and far cheaper than beef or goat the other popular choice.

As for Moor's bitch, since when has any country been obligated to admit undesirables such as the maker of propaganda films.

So, then you won't mind letting us all know you got here.

+5 # kyzipster 2013-02-22 07:49

God, how depressing. Can't you escape by watching Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous like the rest of us or something?

-43 # ER444 2013-02-21 14:14

And our hero is playing golf in Florida.

+21 # ritaague 2013-02-22 05:27

So true, Buddha. Strange and then some, I made a comment (Kudos to Michael Moore, for being such a brave and determined leader for us all, asking if we might have permission to clone him 'cause we need more like him), the comment appeared, and now has vanished.

Let's give this, my agreement with your comment and praise of Michael Moore for assisting this documentary maker, a second try.

+89 # jussayin 2013-02-21 11:00

It's scary that we have people charged with protecting us that can't operate a computer well enough to verify information that a first grader would have no trouble tackling. It indicates that our tax dollars are being wasted when we don't have extra to throw away.

+77 # Reductio Ad Absurdum 2013-02-21 11:50

I think the problem here isn't that they COULD'T Google the info to verify it, it's that they either never thought to or really didn't care enough to. From their perspective, the burden of proof was on the accused.

Line-level worker bees don't think outside the hive, they just follow orders.

+39 # RLF 2013-02-21 13:08

The TSA employees are especially brain dead.

+4 # karenvista 2013-02-23 19:42

Quoting Reductio Ad Absurdum:

Five Broken Cameras is on Netflix as well as in theaters.

It is considered a Palestinian/Isr aeli production and I'm not surprised that Mr. Burnat has come here without incident several times previously. It wasn't until the Academy Award nomination that the film started getting widespread coverage whereupon the Netanyahu government started complaining about it.

Of course, from watching the Hegel inquisition we all know that our government doesn't care what Israel thinks about our internal affairs.

-30 # Johnny 2013-02-21 11:02

Knowing where the Hollywood bread is buttered, Michael Moore heretofore has been afraid to touch the Zionist Holocaust against the people of Palestine. Let us hope that he will grow a spine, now.

+22 # soularddave 2013-02-21 19:21

That's really rude, sir.

There's no way to make a documentary about everything that going wrong these days, but I'd like to see such things happen. Half of the battle is just countering the propaganda and disinformation that's spit out by the mainstream media on a daily basis.

-154 # kerryle00 2013-02-21 11:21

Yeah Michael,

Maybe you can move to the Gaza Strip or the West Bank to show your solidarity with your friend. Then perhaps you can weep totalitarian tears, eat roast beef, or better yet, be hit by an Israeli missile strike.

+43 # rockieball 2013-02-21 15:30

So you approve of the way the Israeli government treats these people. In the same fashion that the Nazi treated them and they never let you forget it, but want you to ignore what they do to others. This from the people who have in Los Angles The Museum of Tolerance. Shame, shame, shame shame.

-37 # HJ7 2013-02-21 17:28

Israel treats it's Arab population far better than the Arab states around it treated their Jewish citizens. Or indeed far better than they treat their Palestinian residents who are trapped in refugee camps. You are no doubt aware that Europe was awash with refugees in camps in 1945. Those people were absorbed
and settled down to new lives. The unfortunate Palestinians are still, 65 years after five Arab nations attacked Israel driving them from their homes, waiting for some kind Arab country to take them in.

+13 # abdullahiedward 2013-02-22 01:52

B. S. period!

+5 # pianosaurus rex 2013-02-24 10:01

Quoting HJ7:

Israel treats it's Arab population far better than the Arab states around it treated their Jewish citizens. Or indeed far better than they treat their Palestinian residents who are trapped in refugee camps. You are no doubt aware that Europe was awash with refugees in camps in 1945. Those people were absorbed
and settled down to new lives. The unfortunate Palestinians are still, 65 years after five Arab nations attacked Israel driving them from their homes, waiting for some kind Arab country to take them in.

This could be included in a new release by
Aesop's

+32 # cafetomo 2013-02-21 11:30

Welcome to Amerika. Enjoy the butt-puppet show.

+96 # Billsy 2013-02-21 11:38

What a sad state of affairs we've reached when American agents treat an honored visitor with such hostility AND I might add, incompetence. Does anyone feel safer now? Shameful!

+20 # abdullahiedward 2013-02-21 13:04

Don't know why you're surprised. Look how Ahmadinejad was treated at Columbia, and he's a Head of State!!

+50 # noitall 2013-02-21 11:56

Remember when "America" meant something in the face of the World? Any American traveling in the world can attest to the fact that this is not true today. Not that Americans are treated badly, they're just "observed" as one observes a bug dying or a bratty child in church; a sort of pity as a 'first timer' loudly struts, assuming the pity is admiration. We have been stereotyped. We are now the droners, the gun people, the ones who killed John Lennon. We who read and contribute to these pages are optimistic that we can win our face back if we get control of our lust and admiration for money and what money has bought: our democracy, the one-time "beacon of freedom to the world".

+43 # Vermont Grandma 2013-02-21 12:04

Once again the United States government demonstrates that it doesn't REALLY believe in the 1st Amendment, or the right of this nation's people to hear from various points of view. This behavior by ICE is inexcusable and reprehensible. People should be fired. Apologies should be made.

And I suggest to KerryleOO that with the beliefs you express, you may feel more comfortable in the former Soviet Union, or the current Burma, than in the US where there are constitutional guarantees for free speech, and not being deprived of liberties without due process of law.

+25 # abdullahiedward 2013-02-21 14:10

Point taken Granny. Check out how the USofA is doing everything possible to get PRESS TV from Iran off the air throughout Europe and the Middle East.

+47 # jazzman633 2013-02-21 12:17

Congratulations , Osama!

9/11 was only the first act. Your real payoff came when America went into a perpetual state of lockdown and paranoia, created two huge, officious, incompetent bureaucracies (we have an army, navy, air force, Coast Guard, FBI, CIA, NSA, and police coverage of every locality in this land - that's not "homeland security"?) and started two trillion-dollar wars.

You turned America into a quasi-police state, caused us to waste huge amounts of blood and treature, as you knew we would...and you had ten years to gloat about it!

+28 # keenon the truth 2013-02-21 14:34

It wasn't Osama, though, was it??!!

+9 # abdullahiedward 2013-02-22 01:55

Good point keen on the truth. Not many people seem to believe that Osama bin Laden had NOTHING to do with 9/11. It was the CIA that CRATED the video depicting him as admitting to involvement.

+4 # karenvista 2013-02-23 19:49

All you have to do to believe it was Osama is to repeal the laws of Physics.

+43 # tuandon 2013-02-21 12:23

Even before all this NineEleven (or should I say "Nein" Eleven) horsecrap, the US was not particularly welcoming to artists from other countries. A dance troupe from Suriname, in South America, was detained because their props contained some sort of ointment to soothe their feet after walking on hot coals...part of their act. They had been invited by the Smithsonian, with the backing of the State Dept. to participate in the National Folklife Festival on the Mall in DC. No matter, immigration was not about to let them in carrying this dangerous ointment. So they gave it up, and did not do the firewalking show. Paranoia, anyone?

+40 # Jack Gibson 2013-02-21 12:25

We are under siege, from within. Amerika is now Israel; and, soon, if there isn't already, in the form of the immigration prisons that are so purposely "incompetent" like is ICE, TSA and DHS, etc., there will be places in the U.S. like Palestine. Right now we violate with impunity and immunity our supreme law of the land, the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, presume everyone guilty until proven innocent, and deport innocent people including American citizens to countries they've never lived in, where they are undoubtedly treated just as bad or worse upon their arrival there. It's all intentional. The "incompetence" is a "Broadway" show, an intentionally engineered oppression, "totaliterroriz ing" and repression; saying, "See, we can be just as repressive as Israel; aren't you proud of us?" This is what we've become, and is steadily, by design, being increased. We're being locked down from within, and the true terrorists, the corporate-fasci st globalists and U.S. government, are winning. We're the Third Reich on steroids, or an updating of same to the "Fourth Reich", that just gets worse and worse every day, all intentionally, and worse than Israel in sheer scale alone, a gigantic prison state being designed and erected for more and more of the innocent. And what do most of us do in response? We say, "Gee, I can't wait until I receive my new Ipad; will you please pass me my antidepressant medication over there; oh, and who's winning American Idol this time?" God help us!

+12 # mickeynow 2013-02-21 13:04

God is probably wondering why we are letting this happen, if he even is paying attention. Maybe, he feels like we should be paying attention, rather than him. One way or the other, somebody better start doing something.

0 # JJS 2013-02-23 15:47

She!

+12 # abdullahiedward 2013-02-21 14:17

I think you said too much for most people to understand or agree with Jack. But what you said is basically true.

-13 # HJ7 2013-02-21 17:38

Mr Gibson:

you clearly know next to nothing about the Third Reich. Try picking up a few history books and reading them. I especially suggest you put down the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" read up on the "Holocaust."

+9 # RMDC 2013-02-21 20:26

I think he understands the third reich very well. Muslims or Arabs are the new jews, persecuted in America, mass murdered in their homelands. As far as the american regime goes, Muslim lives have no value at all.

+4 # abdullahiedward 2013-02-22 02:00

Nobody needs to read up on the Holocaust. The brainwashing we've received thus far on the subject is quite adequate. In fact,you might say we're in an over kill situation. Oh, and don't try doing actual research on the Holocaust, like Richard Irving and a few others have. Else wise you might fall into the catch-all category of being a Holocaust Denier". So much for your suggestion HJ7.

0 # pianosaurus rex 2013-02-24 10:07

The Holocaust is a tired old song you sing. Over the ages lots of indefinable groups have been discriminated against or even wiped out by genocidal acts during war.

Two rules of war my friend;
Rule number one; during war time people die.

Rule number two; doctors cannot change rule number one.

+51 # moby doug 2013-02-21 12:36

"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo ...The perfect motto for the insane klown posse that is Homeland Security.

+18 # MidwestTom 2013-02-21 13:36

But their pay scale is fantastic for literally unskilled labor.

+12 # Activista 2013-02-21 14:24

these are ex-perts military security with "experience" in Fallujah ... Iraq occupation ... very skilled in torture ...

+12 # fliteshare 2013-02-21 16:11

If they were skilled in torture they would know it doesn't work. Give me a waterboard and I make you admit to any crime, I say you committed.

+5 # Activista 2013-02-21 21:03

Torture does not work -- we now it from the times of inquisition - but what did we learned? Tell this to Home Security EX-perts.

+33 # tbcrawford 2013-02-21 13:24

The film is beautiful--I urge everyone to see it and demand our senators and representatives issue public apologies to the filmmaker and his family. As for our own insane, ignorant guardians of the "homeland", they must be dismissed under sequestration like teachers, firemen and others who serve with dignity.

As we continue our corrupt and delusionary ways there will soon be no homeland to protect, only incarceration centers. SHAME ON US!

+11 # Activista 2013-02-21 14:20

Likely Israeli "security consulting" firms are running fatherland - aka homeland security ... search bit ...

+3 # Activista 2013-02-21 17:46

.::STS::. Home
www.isra-sec.com/... leveled international security firm, based in Los Angeles with offices in Israel, ... We specialize in security consulting, bodyguards, and investigating services ...

-1 # hammermann 2013-02-21 17:49

We have often been thugs to artists, remember banning Lennon, but this adoption of brutal mindless heedless Israeli policies of constant harrassment of the always "guilty" Pals... is disgraceful. These morons could spend 1 min checking the Internet, but they knew who this guy was. If he really showed Israeli's shootig civilians, surprised the Israeli's let him out at all. Hope someone gets triple damages and sends it to the filmmaker. My Paki-Amer friend who hosts Obama dinners crosses the Canadian-Wash border and the agents ask his citizenship while looking at his US Passport. "What do you think?", he yells at them.

But re. Ahmajinadad, NY State should have arrested his ass for being an organizer of the Iranian Emassy Hostage taking (as he admitted). 80% of the Iranians hate him- the Supreme Mullahs threw out every challenger so he couldn't lose.

+4 # abdullahiedward 2013-02-22 02:05

@hammermann, your comments about Ahmadinejad are baseless and fact less, let alone being the product of a successful American/Israel i propaganda machine.

+7 # SpaketheRaven 2013-02-23 07:15

If you don't know or have forgotten why Iran has a legitimate beef against the U.S. I suggest you go to Wikipedia and read the following: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1953 Iranian coup d'état
Part of Abadan Crisis

Iranian soldiers surround the parliament building in Tehran
Date 15–19 August 1953
Location Iran
Outcomes Overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. Formation of a military government under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi headed by General Fazlollah Zahedi. Restoration of absolute monarchy. Blowback leading to long term deterioration of Iran – United States relations.
Participants
Supporters of M. Reza Pahlavi
CIA
MI6 Supporters of Mosaddegh
National Front
Commanders and leaders
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Fazlollah Zahedi
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Allen Dulles
Winston Churchill Mohammad Mosaddegh
Hossein Fatemi
Karim Sanjabi
Casualties and losses
300[1] – 800[2] killed
The 1953 Iranian coup d'état (known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup[3]) was the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iran, and its head of government Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh on 19 August 1953, orchestrated by the United Kingdom (under the name 'Operation Boot') and the United States (under the name TPAJAX Project).[4][5] The coup saw the transition of Mohammad-Rezā Shāh Pahlavi from a constitutional monarch to an authoritarian one who relied heavily on United States support to hold on to power until his own overthrow in February 1979.[6]

+3 # karenvista 2013-02-23 20:12

Oh please, you couldn't possibly not know about this well accepted and published CIA coup against Iran:

The Secret CIA History of the Iran Coup, 1953

www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28

Washington, D.C., November 29, 2000 – The CIA history of operation TP AJAX excerpted below was first disclosed by James Risen of The New York Times.

After you read this--then come back and tell us what you think about a country that would overthrow a democratically elected government and install a brutal dictator.

-23 # MidwestTom 2013-02-21 13:35

We are tough on people coming here legally, it's the illegals that we let in free and give benefits to.

-32 # Martintfre 2013-02-21 13:37

Hey Moore on,

This is your people in charge.

Obama and his gang.

+8 # fliteshare 2013-02-21 16:05

Keep barking louder, eventually the right tree will get it.

+12 # Activista 2013-02-21 17:42

This is the system put in like 30 years ago .. started with Reagan ... censoring writers from Central/South America .. parody is that Reagan ask Gorbachev ... break down the Iron Wall ... while building Apartheid USA ...

+9 # Activista 2013-02-21 14:10

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/emad-burnat-detained-5-broken-cameras_n_2724518.html

Oscar Nominee Detained, Threatened With Deportation
www.huffingtonpost.com
Emad Burant, the Palestinian who co-directed the Academy Award-nominated documentary "5 Broken Cameras," was reportedly detained at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday night as he attempted to enter America to attend the Oscars, this according to filmmaker Michael Moore. Burant and his ...
TOTALITARIAN AMERICA ....

+23 # MizKatz 2013-02-21 14:35

How is this for bungled bureaucracy -- from Travel.State.go v: "Nonimmigrant visas are for international travelers (citizens of other countries), coming to the U.S. temporarily. The visa, placed in your passport when issued, allows you to travel to a U.S. port-of-entry (airport, for example) and request permission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection immigration officer to enter the U.S. A visa does not guarantee entry into the U.S." So the right hand issues a visa to come to the U.S., but once the traveler shells out the $, gets on the plane and comes here, the brain-trust at DHS can arbitrarily say 'sorry...we were just kidding. Now go home.'

Not only is an apology absolutely necessary here, but some streamlining is in order. There is absolutely no excuse for issuing a visa to someone if that visa is not going to be honored at the other end.

Government waste and spending reduction should be focused on crap like this -- not on Granny's $900 social security check.

+3 # karenvista 2013-02-23 20:19

I was a travel agent for 27 years and I had never heard of a non-visa visa until now.

No wonder we have no tourism industry anymore! European friends and family won't even go through our ICE/DHS wringer anymore.

+12 # Jim 2013-02-21 14:53

Step right up folks. Here we have the new and improved version of Zionism. It comes equipped with more tentacles, bigger fangs and greater immunity than ever before. It can operate deftly both stealthily and out in the open. And God does not like those who would expose it or oppose it.

+16 # angelfish 2013-02-21 15:58

This is what is in store for ALL of us, especially for those of us who vocally disapprove of this Bull-Puckey. Scarey stuff. WHAT has happened to America? It has been morphed into AmeriKa. So sad.

-8 # Martintfre 2013-02-21 17:30

Quoting angelfish:

This is what is in store for ALL of us, especially for those of us who vocally disapprove of this Bull-Puckey. Scarey stuff. WHAT has happened to America? It has been morphed into AmeriKa. So sad.

How has this happened is the question, and the answer is Simpler then most care to observe.

We voted for a lying hypocritical demagog who promises every one everything and we don't hold him to account for the lies.

Oh he's gonna end the wars -- he started more. Oh hes gonna curb the big money interest -- he gave them our farm and prosecute no one -- he hired them.
He was gonna close Gitmo -- its still open. He launched a fascist corporate designed health care that was not going to cost a dime and addprotection for more people -- inistead millions are loosing health insurance and the prices are skyrocketing... He promised to go after unconscionable spending -- the deficit and subsequent debt skyrocketed.
stupid puppets love rhetoric but too lazy to look into the followup.

+2 # angelfish 2013-02-22 11:34

Martinfre, the President is NOT Imperial. He CAN'T do all those things without SOME help from the Congress! The SCOTUS is also on the Dark Side and fights ONLY for the Mega-Millionair es who can host them at lavish parties and, probably, grease their palms under the table! THEY are the Traitors and Demagogues whose credo is, "MY way or NO way!". Never in my lifetime have I seen such a Partisan, Poisonous crowd in Washington. Sane RePublicans rePudiate their Bull-Puckey, as they should! When the President made some out of session Appointments the crooked Courts have now deemed them illegal! HOW can you run a Country without staffing your Cabinet and crucial Departments? Seriously!

+14 # Activista 2013-02-21 17:39

5 Broken Cameras will be CENSORED in the USA/New York.... as was play "My Name is Rachel" diary of bright American student killed by Israeli bulldozer ... search

+7 # Ray Kondrasuk 2013-02-22 09:24

Burnat screened his disturbing, compelling film here in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

At least one of his broken cameras intercepted a bullet meant for his head.

One must ask why Israeli Security Forces feel so threatened by a camera.

+17 # reiverpacific 2013-02-21 17:50

This hardly surprises me.
I had a hell of a time getting in to the US back when it was a bit easier and I had just married my late ex-wife and wanted to go to work in the USA when there was still a sense of "Can-do" and plenty work for outside-the-box types with a bit of go to them but they grilled me on my lefty activist background bringing up things I'd forgotten but refused to deny.
I suspect that I wouldn't have a popsicle in Hell's chance today.
My main dread is being put on a "no fly" list when I choose to leave.
I'd really like to see this brave man's film by the way; any leads? OK. O can use Google I guess; heh-heh!.

+2 # karenvista 2013-02-23 20:29

Yeah, if you protested the Vietnam (or any other)war, or if you're a Quaker you've got an FBI file. But you can be a member of a right-wing militia group, the American Nazi Party or probably even the KKK and you'll be fine. The govt. has been proven to go after anti-war, Quaker and Occupy folks nation-wide. The right-wing are their friends.

+14 # bonnettoboot 2013-02-21 19:33

This is standard procedure when entering Gulag LAX. Way before 9-11 my 82 year old mother was held for 3 hours having travelled alone from Scotland because she could not remember the address at which she was to stay at. I will never forgive them.

+7 # Kootenay Coyote 2013-02-21 20:12

It was Jews who got sent back to Central Europe in the 1930’s; now it’s Palestinians sent back to Israel//Palesti ne. Same sh*t, different...sou rces.

+3 # Activista 2013-02-21 21:31

In meantime TERROR (Friends of Syria - USA, Saudi) .... reached new heights: Dozens of Syrians were killed and wounded on Thursday in a wave of car bombs and mortar attacks targeting political, security and military symbols of ... killing dozens of CIVILIANS .. and WSJ is applauding ...
look at the images - www.news.com.au/world/car-bomb-hits-baath-party-office-in-damascus-syria-killing-at-least-31/story-fndir2ev-1226583106647
who is the TERRORIST here? and Israel ...ew fence, surveillance sensors, and troop deployments along the Israeli side of the 65-mile border reflect concern in the Jewish state ... ISRAEL is OCCUPYING Golan Heights ..The Israeli occupation the world forgot: the Golan Heights | +972 ...
972mag.com/the-israeli-occupation...golan-heights/31332/Dec 26, 2011 –mainstream media commonly refers to the West Bank and Gaza as the Occupied Palestinian Territories, it often incorrectly calls the Golan Heights part of Israel. How has the occupation impacted the Golan? And why has the world forgotten it? " Where is UN ..

+14 # turtleislander 2013-02-22 05:53

Very disturbing is the fact that TSA and Homeland Security could only be moved to release Emad with the enormous pressure of the Hollywood establishment. What happens to people that dont have that kind of power and prestige to help them?

+7 # cafetomo 2013-02-22 12:01

What happens when the underpaid and dis-empowered are given an opportunity to exercise a disproportionat e authority over those they cannot help but resent as their betters? Why did the Khmer Rouge empty the city dwellers into the countryside, or the Chinese revolution parade doctors and teachers to the square for shame and execution? They are all degrees of the same thing. A sense of vindictive superiority becomes the reward of those who would be gatekeepers. It is their chance to be better than you, and your turn to be subservient. Or else.

+4 # Activista 2013-02-22 16:56

Great analysis ... the same goes for police ...

+1 # moonrivermastiff 2013-02-23 16:20

Would be a shame if this administration turned into another 8 yrs of paranoia and managed news.

+5 # cabotool 2013-02-24 08:00

Last year, I entered the US from Mexico. My neighbor had assaulted me (at my age of 76) and he obtained an order of protection against me! When I entered the US, I was told that because of the order of protection that I would have to go through "secondary screening". I was led to a cage where ICE personnel strutted through with bullet proof vests and side arms. It was the most frightening and obscene experience of my life.

When I entered Russia in 2011, to visit my friends in Saint Petersburg, I was legitimately questioned because the number of my visa did not match my passport number. When I received my passport, they clearly informed me that if there were any errors in my passport that they MUST be corrected before I arrived in Russia. I had presumed that this number was correct as the error was that the first two numbers on my Russian visa had been transposed. Russian immigration had every right to put me back on the plane for America. Instead the man in the airport branch of the Russian embassy apologized and in ten minutes I had a new visa in my passport.

I am ashamed to think of what America would do in the case of a foreigner who had an error in their documents. I was treated with more courtesy in Russia than I was treated in America.

My ancestor, Jared, was a captain in the Revolutionary Army of the United States. He is probably rolling over in his grave to see what has become of the country that he fought for.

+1 # Activista 2013-02-24 14:26

I had similar experience at most of the borders ... a do NOT forget that it is ILLEGAL to travel to Cuba - and it is US, not Cuba that is "controlling" traffic.
We are building walls/killing on the southern border, etc. .. by now we have ALL the totalitarian institutions the Nazi and Soviet Union had ..

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