A French scientist was refused entry to the U.S. after airport immigration officers found messages on his phone criticizing the Trump administration, the French government said.
“I learned with concern” that a French researcher had traveled to the U.S. this month on assignment for the National Center for Scientific Research but “was denied entry to the United States before being expelled,” Philippe Baptiste, France’s higher education and research minister, said in a statement to Agence France-Presse, Le Monde reported. The scientist, a space researcher, has not been publicly identified.
"This measure was apparently taken by the American authorities because the researcher's phone contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration's research policy,” Baptiste added.
The incident occurred on March 9, after the space researcher had traveled to Texas for a conference near Houston, a diplomatic source told AFP.
On arrival, the researcher was subjected to a random check, including a search of his work computer and personal phone. Officers had found messages discussing the Trump administration’s treatment of scientists, the source added.
The researcher was reportedly accused of writing messages “that reflect hatred toward Trump and can be described as terrorism,” and his equipment was confiscated before he was put on a plane back to Europe the following day.
Baptiste defended the researcher’s right to hold a personal opinion.
“Freedom of opinion, free research, and academic freedom are values that we will continue to proudly uphold. I will defend the right of all French researchers to be faithful to them while respecting the law,” he told AFP.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Le Monde that the U.S. has sovereign decisions on who can enter its country. However, the ministry added that it “deplores the situation” and that the French government was committed to “academic and scientific cooperation” and emphasized its “desire to promote freedom of expression.”
The same day that the French scientist was denied entry to the U.S., Baptiste issued a statement offering terminated workers to research in France. "Many well-known researchers are already questioning their future in the United States,” he said. "We would naturally wish to welcome a certain number of them."
Since taking office in January, Donald Trump has enacted sweeping changes to scientific research funding.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will fire more than 1,000 researchers, including chemists, biologists, and toxicologists, as part of the widespread “reduction of force” layoffs planned by the Trump Administration, according to documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
Last month, the National Institutes of Health said it would cut grants for “indirect costs,” including buildings and equipment, to save $4 billion, the BBC reported. Many universities and hospitals have said they might need to reduce medical or scientific research to fill the funding gaps.
Scientists have held major rallies in protest of the mass layoffs and research funding cuts.
“If ever there were a time to ‘stand up for science,’ it is now,” Dr. Michael E. Mann, the director of the Center for Science, Sustainability & the Media at the University of Pennsylvania, previously told The Independent.
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