Comment by hmmm-i-wonder

As someone who just returned from the US for a family wedding, its the last time I'm stepping foot in the US until the administration and direction changes.

The odds of getting an 'emboldened nationalistic fuckhead', or ENF's as I call them, at the border, or a LEO officer has gone up considerably. Scientists blocked at the border due to social media posts, Citizens/legal green card holders are being deported for simply criticizing or protesting the administration. Legal visitors and musicians are being followed and harassed by LEO's demanding their country of preference and treating them like drug smugglers. Legal visa seekers are being detained for weeks in horrible conditions. This is only a short list of the many things visitors need to be aware of and concerned about.

This administration is showing every indication of refusing to follow multiple judges orders and attacking the judicial system people would typically expect to curb and/or stop such abuses.

If you have any sort of public profile or social media presence that isn't pro-Trump/US you are at risk.

Attend remotely or not at all, and make it known to the conference organizers that the US is not a safe place anymore to host international conferences. It will only take a year or two of people refusing and these conferences will stop being organized in the US.

Hopefully a new administration comes along sooner rather than later and makes significant inroads into restoring democracy and freedom in the US, for now its an autocratic regime with a very thin skin and massive ego.