> Yes, if you're a well-meaning tourist, nothing will happen to you.
Perhaps this is what you meant, but I'd rephrase that as: if you are a well-meaning tourist with all the proper paperwork then it is very unlikely that anything will happen to you.
I've had a few "well-meaning" friends and colleagues who experienced significant life impacts due to paperwork problems with US Customs and Border Patrol. One example was a student who didn't realize they needed additional authorization to work part-time, another overstayed their visa on a prior trip and is barred from re-entry. Being "well-meaning" is entirely insufficient bordering on irrelevant compared to having the proper paperwork and following the proper processes, especially if you are young and/or from a non-European country.
For decades this has been a topic of discussion amongst international attendees at US conferences and events, and for every person who is denied entry there are several who are reluctant to visit the US due to experiences at the border. Given the particular zeal with which the current administration enforces entry rules it has become the dominant conversation amongst international participants.
> Yes, the US is having some political instability.
Fascists have taken over. It's really all down hill from here. Americans are sometimes good at coming together when we really need to, so maybe there's hope because most of us aren't far left or right. But even with the weapons we have access to and the 2A we have the right to, we would still have to go against Trump's eventual red army. So there's that. Yeah, we're fucked.
Whenever there is an administration change someone is going to be throwing out “the sky is falling” and “we are going to horribly die” by (fill in the blank) scenarios. It never happens and it won’t happen this time either.
I truly think everything will be fine in the long run. Just focus on what you can control. Just remember that an escalating nuclear war is a much worse existential threat than who is president for 4 years (although they are slightly related).
> Yes, if you're a well-meaning tourist, nothing will happen to you.
Perhaps this is what you meant, but I'd rephrase that as: if you are a well-meaning tourist with all the proper paperwork then it is very unlikely that anything will happen to you.
I've had a few "well-meaning" friends and colleagues who experienced significant life impacts due to paperwork problems with US Customs and Border Patrol. One example was a student who didn't realize they needed additional authorization to work part-time, another overstayed their visa on a prior trip and is barred from re-entry. Being "well-meaning" is entirely insufficient bordering on irrelevant compared to having the proper paperwork and following the proper processes, especially if you are young and/or from a non-European country.
For decades this has been a topic of discussion amongst international attendees at US conferences and events, and for every person who is denied entry there are several who are reluctant to visit the US due to experiences at the border. Given the particular zeal with which the current administration enforces entry rules it has become the dominant conversation amongst international participants.
> Yes, the US is having some political instability.
Fascists have taken over. It's really all down hill from here. Americans are sometimes good at coming together when we really need to, so maybe there's hope because most of us aren't far left or right. But even with the weapons we have access to and the 2A we have the right to, we would still have to go against Trump's eventual red army. So there's that. Yeah, we're fucked.
Whenever there is an administration change someone is going to be throwing out “the sky is falling” and “we are going to horribly die” by (fill in the blank) scenarios. It never happens and it won’t happen this time either.
I truly think everything will be fine in the long run. Just focus on what you can control. Just remember that an escalating nuclear war is a much worse existential threat than who is president for 4 years (although they are slightly related).
For some definition of "fine" I suppose. Retirement and healthcare will probably look radically different for a lot of people.