New Hampshire resident Fabian Schmidt was returning home from visiting his family in Europe when he was stopped at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) by United States Customs and Border Protection after showing his recently renewed green card. Originally from Germany, he had been living in the US for 18 years, but the 34-year-old was detained for nearly two months after being told he was a flight risk.
Finally released last week, he detailed the “dehumanizing” experience, which included being strip-searched and locked in a secluded cell, to GBH News this week. “I love this country and the people in it so much—but I’ll tell you, the system is broken,” he told the public media outlet.
Schmidt is just one of several American visa holders and permanent legal residents who have been stopped at the border returning from international travel, including a Brown University kidney transplant doctor, who has a work visa, but was deported to Lebanon.
Foreign nationals have also recently run into roadblocks trying to visit the country legally, including a researcher who French officials say was denied entry after his phone was searched and immigration officers found messages that were critical of the Trump administration.
Following these incidents, Canada and several European countries have issued travel advisories for the US. While most of the government warnings don’t specify why they were added, the timing points to the the Trump administration’s executive orders regarding immigration and the tightening of border policies.
“The whole purpose is to stop illegal immigration,” Larry Yu, professor of hospitality management at The George Washington University’s School of Business tells Condé Nast Traveler. “But then the executive orders are also tied to other issues like transgender identification, so it actually adds quite a bit of confusion, uncertainty, and concern for the US travel industry.”
Many of the European countries that have issued US travel warnings have flagged the White House’s executive order that states “it is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female,” potentially causing issues for transgender travelers with self-identified or “X” gender markers on their passports.
The recent uptick in travel warnings is already having a major impact on US tourism, according to Yu, as several of the advisories were issued by countries that are top drivers of inbound travel to the US, including Canada, the UK, and Germany.
“The image the US has always projected is that we’re welcoming and diverse,” Yu says, adding that recent events are making people think about how they see the US.
The US is projected to lose $12.5 billion in traveling spending this year, according to a new report from the The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) released this week, citing a 22.5% decrease from peak spending, falling to $169 billion from $181 billion last year.
“This is a wake-up call for the U.S. government. The world’s biggest Travel & Tourism economy is heading in the wrong direction, not because of a lack of demand, but because of a failure to act,” WTTC’s president and CEO Julia Simpson said in a statement. “While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S. government is putting up the ‘closed’ sign.”
