In the grand scheme of things, the deportation of two German teenagers, Charlotte Pohl and Maria Lepere, from Hawaii is not the most alarming thing the US administration has done recently. Yes, it is peculiar, you might even call it chilling, that you can now be ejected from America for not having sorted your accommodation before you arrived. The experience itself – handcuffs, strip-searches, body scans, prison uniforms, a night in a cell – sounds pretty harrowing. But at least they were only detained for one night. They could have been held for 12 days, like the Canadian actress Jasmine Mooney; or 16 days, like Lucas Sielaff, also German, who was driving from Mexico with his American fiancee, and says he still has nightmares about it.
Marco Rubio has reassured the world that: “If you’re not coming to the United States to join a Hamas protest, or to come here and tell us about how right Hamas is, or … stir up conflict on our campuses and create riots in our streets and vandalise our universities, then you have nothing to worry about.” And in a funny sort of way, that is quite reassuring; because it makes travel to America a non-decision. Previously, you might have been on the horns of a dilemma. How authoritarian must a country become before it’s morally unacceptable to go there for leisure purposes? Is it bad enough that people are being lifted off the streets and deported to El Salvador with no due process? Or can you turn a blind eye and still go to Disneyland? Rubio’s statement makes it plain that the border authorities will have a problem with anyone who doesn’t like their politics, and even if you had no plans to vandalise anything, that pretty much makes the decision for you.
As hard as I try to focus on what this means for the new world order, there’s a self-soothing voice going, “This is not the end of the world – because you know where else is really nice? Canada.” I mean, obviously don’t fly there if you’re not nearish already, but it’s got all the same vastness and majesty, plus you’ll be able to afford eggs.
• Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist
