To be fair (with a heavy dose of irony), the immigration system in the US has always been particularly uncompassionate and heavy-handed – they are
just being given licence to be even more so.
I remember when my L1A was up for renewal and I was told that it had to be done in my ‘home’ country and could take an indeterminant time and had
a risk of being denied meaning we could not be sure of a return to the US. Given that our house in the UK had been rented out, we had children in school in the US, life and jobs in the US, etc., that seemed a singularly unhelpful method of control and not
overly friendly or welcoming.
I took the decision that this was far too risky a pursuit even back in 2016 and immediately started planning a return to the UK – I can only imagine
how overzealous these apparatchiks have become now that they’ve been given unbridled nastiness...
From: Phillip Hallam-Baker <phill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Friday, 21 March 2025 at 08:02
To: Tzadik Vanderhoof <tzadik.vanderhoof@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Andrew Alston <aa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Rob Wilton <rwilton=40cisco.com@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, ietf <ietf@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Travel Bans and IETF 127
Anyone can be arrested and spurious grounds given to justify the decision.
It is very clear that in the case of the Venezuelans kidnapped in defiance of a court order and put in slave labor camps in El Salvador that most are not gang members, they are merely people who happen to have
tattoos.
While you can loudly assert that the authorities must be correct, the authorities avoided having to justify their claims in court by rendering them to a third country. The court disagrees with your assessment.
This is a lawless administration acting in defiance of the US courts and constitution. You can try to ridicule people for pointing out the facts, but they are facts nevertheless.
Is this perception of "risk" based on any evidence? What exactly are you "at risk" of happening to you? Can you point to any example of whatever you're afraid of having happened?
I'm assuming you're neither a gang member nor an advocate for a terrorist organization. As far as I know, these are the only types of people that have been affected by any adverse actions, and the only thing that's
happened, even to them, is removal from the US.
I assumed we were a group of rational thinkers.
I can say categorically that I will not risk going into the U.S. for the foreseeable future, despite holding a valid visa.
Multiple individuals I have spoken to have echoed this sentiment - including people who have pulled out of events like nanog. The risk is just to great for a foreigner and the situation is to fluid to know what’s
going to happen going forward.
People may be willing, but their families and their employers and the companies that insure their employers may well take a different view.
Willing and resolute people who understand the importance of supporting Ukrainians regularly take trains from neighboring countries.
You wrote:
I don't think we would have continued with a meeting in Kyiv had one been planned.
Why do you think an IETF meeting would not happen if it were planned in Kyiv?
Destruction of the main airport for a start.
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