New hard-line US border controls are increasing concern among prospective transatlantic travellers – leading to some travellers to question whether they should be heading to the States.
Richard Quest, CNN Business editor-at-large, told The Independent’s daily travel podcast: “US immigration is going to be looking more closely at everybody coming through the border.”
Immediately on taking office, Donald Trump issued an executive order that asserted: “Over the last four years, the prior administration invited, administered, and oversaw an unprecedented flood of illegal immigration into the United States.
“Millions of illegal aliens crossed our borders or were permitted to fly directly into the United States on commercial flights.”
The order, headlined Protecting the American people against invasion, says: “Enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States.”
The tighter controls, said Mr Quest, are leading to prospective transatlantic travellers wondering whether it is safe to travel to the US.
“We’re starting to hear cases where visitors to the United States are having an extreme reaction at the border.
“In the last few weeks there have been, yes, isolated cases – a couple in Germany, one in the UK – but where travellers crossing US borders have been detained, in some cases sent to remote locations, and then deported.
"There was a tattooist from Germany who's had her tattoo equipment found in her bag, and they thought she might be working.
“There was somebody who was the fiancee of an American citizen who was detained and then deported.”Such treatment is deterring travellers, the CNN anchor said.
“Are they going to get the third degree, or are they going to be turned away at the airport, or are they going to have an unwelcome experience?
“You even have Brown University telling its faculty and students who have visas, ‘Don't travel out of the country, you might not get back or you might have trouble getting back’.
“In that scenario, I think you're going to have people saying, is it worth going to the US?
“If you and the kids are going to Orlando to Disney for a week, you don't necessarily have to worry.
“But there are those groups of people, I would think gap-year students, I would think those who have had legal difficulties. You need to be more aware that US immigration is going to be looking more closely at everybody coming through the border.
“How this translates into travel and decision making, we don't know yet, but you cannot ignore these very high-profile cases and ask yourself what is the effect going to be?”
Ben Smith, the chief executive of Air France-KLM, told an aviation conference: “We’ve seen from Canada to the US a significant shift in demand away from the US to other destinations.
“Canadians are still travelling [but] they’ve reduced their planned trips to the US significantly.”
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says: “Securing our nation's borders and safeguarding the integrity of our immigration system is a primary focus of ICE officers and agents throughout the country.
“Immigration enforcement is the largest single area of responsibility for ERO [Enforcement and Removal Operations] and is a critical component of the overall safety, security, and well-being of our nation.”
Richard Quest, 63, has been working at CNN since 2001 – principally reporting and presenting business programmes.
He said of the new administration: “The level of chaos and confusion is off the charts.
“The tariffs is a good example. How can any company, how can any business leader have a strategy when it's tariffs on, tariffs off, tariffs change, tariffs off, tariffs this, tariffs that?
“So it's very, very difficult at the moment.”
