It’s every traveller’s worst fear.
You arrive in a new country after a long flight, line up for hours and present your passport – only to be pulled aside by an immigration officer.
There have been multiple reports of Australian travellers being refused entry into the United States over seemingly frivolous reasons.
Some said they were asked to hand over their phone so officers could download its contents.
One Norwegian man said he was denied entry because he had an unflattering meme of US Vice President JD Vance on his phone.
An Australian writer, Alistair Kitchen, reported last month he was sent home after being interrogated about his blogging on political protests.
He later claimed officials found “evidence of drug use” on his phone and he felt coerced into admitting he had tried drugs in the past.
The threat of being detained and sent back home now lingers for Australians hoping to holiday in the US.
But are immigration officers really ramping up their efforts to stop Australians and other nationalities from entering the US under the Trump administration?
Melbourne-based immigration lawyer Sherwin Noorian told 9news.com.au US officials were simply flexing a legal muscle that had always existed.
But Noorian said travellers should not feel coerced into admitting prior drug use or their political beliefs to an immigration officer.
“The US has very strict controlled substances laws for non-citizens who are travelling to the US, so even admitting to using marijuana once in one’s home country… they can use that against the traveller and deny them entry,” Noorian explained.
“There’s a bit of nuance to it and it may not legally stand up, but they can kind of do whatever they want at that point.”
Noorian’s advice is to never “incriminate yourself” if you’ve never been convicted of anything.
He’s also noticed an “anecdotal” rise in reported cases of travellers being detained and their phones confiscated.
It’s always been done, but he posits the theory that immigration officers could now be using an “advanced computing system to scan the devices for anything they deem suspicious or of concern”.
He also said travellers do have a right to refuse a request to give up their phone, but warns this could result in automatic entry refusal.
“It’s a condition of entry, so to speak, that you would hand over that device when asked,” he added.
Noorian said he was aware of reports that travellers were being turned away at the border over phone content that was critical of the Trump administration, including memes or political posts.
He suspected that travellers who were granted an Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) visa waiver could be flagged and interrogated at the border for a variety of reasons and sometimes it was not hard to find one that sticks.
“That could be used, especially if they’re high-profile, as a reason to take someone aside to question them and give them a hard time,” he said.
“If they’re those types of officers who, and not all of them are like this, but some would be looking for people who are against the administration or against what they deem to be the US interest, they would use that as a reason to question someone and begin that interview.”
A meme alone wouldn’t be enough to deny entry, Noorian said.
“But through the course of that [interview], they would begin looking for what they can use to build a case to deny entry,” he added.
Noorian said the ESTA, which most Australians use to enter the US, does not guarantee entry.
The first time a traveller is genuinely assessed under an ESTA, he said, is once you land on US soil.
“For most people, they wait until they’re in the country and then they say, ‘OK, we’re going to assess you for your eligibility to enter,'” he said.
“I think the Smartraveller advice on this is really quite accurate when they say, be aware that the US authorities have a high level of discretion for visa waiver entries.
“It means even more for an Australian traveller than someone coming from Canada or the UK.”
The current Smartraveller advice for Australians travelling to the US warns that “entry requirements are strict”.
“US authorities have broad powers to decide if you’re eligible to enter and may determine that you are inadmissible for any reason under US law,” the advice reads.
All hope is not lost for a US holiday if you’re denied entry under an ESTA, though.
Noorian said he had cases of clients being refused entry but then able to enter the US through a visitor visa obtained via the US consulate.
“It’s not a lifetime ban, they can reapply, but in this environment, it depends on the circumstances,” he added.
“If they admitted to drug use, that could be a big problem.
“But it can be overcome. We’ve done that before.”
US Homeland Security officials have disputed that a Norwegian tourist was denied entry due to a meme and said he was turned away for admitting to drug use.
