[perihelions]

Isn't the politics the entire point though? US federal law enforcement isn't jailing people over funny pictures; they're jailing people over funny pictures *of powerful government officials*. It's an instantly-recognizable trait of a certain kind of country: like "you can't refer to Xi Jinping as "Pooh", you go to jail for that", or "you can't talk about the King of Thailand's body weight, you go to jail for that"—it's a archetype of *that* kind of place. Everyone knows what it means. "You can't make silly pictures of Vice President Vance—you go to jail for that".

[account42]

The guy wasn't jailed, he was detained until he could be put on a return flight the same day.

That he was refused entry because of the picture is his speculation and likely not the full truth because they only found the picture after already pulling him aside.

There is certainly questionable behavior by the CPB here if the description is correct but lets not make conclusions that aren't backed by facts.

Edit: CPB refutes that he was denied entry because of the meme: https://x.com/CBP/status/1937651325354795444

[mandmandam]

The claim: "for his admitted drug use"

The context: He smoked weed in California, where it's legal, years ago.

This guy isn't a drug trafficker. He's not doing meth or heroin, never did. He smoked weed, in a legal state (as millions of Americans do on a daily basis).

Then he made the critical mistake of handing over his phone to be searched, rather than flying home (!), upon which advanced creepy software (probably developed and funded by some of this very crowd) flagged this 'federal crime' of smoking weed while in Cali.

So yes, the meme is a red herring, but it's distracting from a thing that's still incredibly fucked up.

[msgodel]

It's not legal in any state because using/selling it is against federal law.

[mandmandam]

No one is saying it isn't against federal law.

It's still a demented justification to turn someone away from the country. "You can come here, buy weed in a majority of states, and face no fear of repercussions... Until you try and come back in". That's nutty. It's batshit.

And, the real reason he was brought in - as brought up by the Immi officers - was that he was doing journalism at one of the anti-genocide protests.

[msgodel]

It's probably not a good idea to have people on visas attending protests.

Keep in mind I'm very much not pro Isreal, but it's not practical or moral to have foreign partisans participating in our politics that way.

[mandmandam]

> > it's not practical or moral to have foreign partisans participating in our politics that way.

That would be called 'freedom of assembly', which is a universal human right (see Article 20 of the UNDHR). Highly moral, most practical, and widely recognized as such.

[queenkjuul]

Why would someone on a visa deserve to be denied freedom of assembly?

[ndsipa_pomu]

I don't think the King of Thailand was really a government official - more of a figurehead.