According to a report in the Norwegian newspaper Nordlys on Monday, which was picked up by the British tabloid the Daily Mail on Tuesday, “Two pictures ruined Mads’ dream vacation.”
Mads Mikkelsen, a 21-year-old tourist from Norway (not the actor), claims he was denied entry to the U.S. at Newark Liberty International Airport on June 11. He says this happened after he handed over his phone to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, who discovered a meme featuring U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance.
Mikkelsen alleges that officials threatened him with a $5,000 fine or a five-year prison sentence if he didn’t provide his phone password. After he complied and his phone was examined, he was sent back to Norway, he says.
Reports of the denied entry were shared on social media by anti-Trump influencers, including former Republican congressman and #Resistance movement activist, among others. They encouraged the further sharing of Vance memes, which gained popularity following President Donald Trump’s meeting with in the Oval Office in February, during which Vance allegedly demanded the Ukrainian President “thank” Trump.
Disinformation researcher Pekka Kallioniemi commented on the Trump Administration in relation to the story, saying, “These are the same people who blame Europe for a lack of free speech.”
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), called Mikkelsen’s claims that he was denied entry because of the Vance meme “
CBP stated that “Mads Mikkelsen was not denied entry for any memes or political reasons, it was for his admitted drug use.”
Mikkelsen admitted that the second photo seen by ICE officials was of a wooden pipe he had made himself years ago. He also told Nordlys that the officials asked him “direct questions about drug smuggling, terrorist plots, and right-wing extremism” and that he had been forced to give a .
The reason for Mikkelsen’s increased scrutiny remains unclear. CBP has not responded to TIME’s requests for comment.
The bigger picture
Tighter immigration controls have become a key aspect of Trump’s second term.
In addition to , the Trump Administration has directed immigration officials to enhance vetting procedures for certain non-immigrant visas, including . DHS also announced in April that authorities would begin monitoring the social media accounts of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. for “.”
While border agents have always had the authority to deny entry on a case-by-case basis, there have been increasing reports of , , and of tourists in recent months.
Some incidents have raised concerns about the politicization of border agents’ discretion. In March, a French minister described how a researcher from the French National Center for Scientific Research was denied entry to the U.S. after authorities found “personal opinion on the Trump administration’s research policy” on his phone. Just last week, border agents reportedly sent an Australian writer back to Melbourne from Los Angeles after questioning him about his views on the conflict in Gaza.
Several countries, including , and , have issued travel advisories to their citizens regarding travel to the U.S. in response to various Trump policies.
Due to these issues, travelers are increasingly avoiding the U.S., and the World Travel & Tourism Council reports that the U.S. economy is experiencing in international traveler spending this year.
There is little visitors can do if border officials decide to deny them entry. An immigration lawyer told the that you have the right to remain silent, but this will likely result in denial of entry. If detained instead of being immediately sent back, you can be held for up to 90 days.
Nate Freed Wessler, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told that you have fewer civil rights after landing on an international flight but before clearing customs than elsewhere in the U.S. “The normal Fourth Amendment requirement of a warrant or individualized suspicion doesn’t apply,” he said. “The only minimal protection CBP has in their policy is distinguishing between manual and forensic searches,” he added, explaining that a forensic search involves connecting a mobile phone to another device for analysis, while a manual search involves scrolling through the phone’s contents. “For a forensic search, they say they need reasonable suspicion, but they don’t define what that means. For a manual search, there are no guardrails. They argue it’s less invasive, but that’s just not true. They can still do keyword searches and spend hours combing through your device.”
“Keep calm (but delete your nudes)” advised the Guardian’s headline for tourists headed to the U.S. WIRED has suggested traveling with a separate phone altogether—though a phone that appears “too squeaky clean,” it warns, “can arouse suspicion”—or at the very least minimizing risk by printing your boarding pass and any other documents you may need to present so you can avoid taking your phone out of your pocket.
Noor Zafar, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, the Washington Post that travelers should keep the contact information of an immigration attorney in case they run into complications at the border.
“The stories are definitely concerning,” Zafar said in March. “I think we’re just in a period of more aggressive policies being implemented at the border. And I think that requires people to take extra precautionary measures.”
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