As the political convention season gets under way journalists from around the world are expected to converge on Boston and New York City. That is, unless they are detained at the airport by immigration officials, body searched, held in shackles and deported.
Within the last 18 months, at least 18 foreign journalists have been seized and expelled from American airports. Foreign journalists apparently need a special press visa to enter the United States, a requirement that has existed in law since 1952, but has just recently been enforced.
Many journalists from friendly, non-visa nations who have repeatedly entered the country in the past are unaware of this extra paperwork. For those traveling into the Los Angeles International Airport in particular, the result of this honest error has been treatment more akin to terror suspects.
In May, freelance journalist Elena Lappin was stopped after flying from London to Los Angeles. She was on assignment from the British daily the Guardian. But because she lacked the special visa she was not allowed to formally enter the country.
After being interrogated by immigration officials for hours, her luggage and body were searched. She was then handcuffed, stuffed in a security van and driven to a detention facility where she was locked in a cell with a steel bench about a foot wide for a bed. The lights were on all night and no pillow or blanket was provided. Lappin says she spent 26 hours in detention until she was deported.
Her harrowing tale raises the question: Is this an effective way to spend our civil defense dollars? Lappin was missing a document that no other temporary visitor with a British passport needed; she obviously posed no threat to American security. Putting aside the basic issue of whether an open society should have special conditions for foreign journalists, there was no excuse for the kind of mistreatment she suffered.
Unfortunately, she is not alone. A number of journalists who came through the Los Angeles airport have had similar experiences, suggesting that officials there are particularly intent on doling out harsh treatment to foreign journalists.
Various press groups have complained to the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, which now is in charge of most immigration functions. The outcry has resulted in some changes in the policy. Port directors now have the discretion to allow journalists to enter the country without proper visas one time. But that is not enough. The special visa requirement should be scrapped.
There are currently 27 nations from which visitors are allowed into the United States for up to 90 days for business or pleasure without a visa. Journalists from these countries should not be held to a higher standard.
There is no reasonable justification for the distinction. In a nation where freedom of the press is a constitutional right, journalists from other nations should expect to be welcomed into our free and open society, not slapped in shackles and treated like public enemy No. 1.
