US Man 'refused entry into US' as border control catch him with bald JD Vance meme - A 21-year-old tourist has described the horrendous treatment he allegedly received after being denied entry to the USA due to a meme depicting JD Vance as bald being found on his phone

https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/world-news/man-refused-entry-us-border-31925059 (ENG)
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https://www.nordlys.no/mads-sin-drommereise-til-usa-spolert-pa-grunn-av-satirebilde-pa-mobilen/s/5-34-2171723 (NOR)
[A] - Site is extremely paywalled, sorry


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(From Norwegian publication)

LOCAL (ENGLISH) ARCHIVE

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Meme depicting JD Vance as bald

A 21-year-old Norwegian tourist claims he was denied entry to the United States and harassed by ICE agents after they discovered a JD Vance meme on his phone.

Mads Mikkelsen arrived at New Jersey's Newark Airport on June 11 when he was pulled aside by border control and placed in a cell, he told Norwegian outlet Nordlys. Mads was travelling to the States to visit friends, first in New York and then in Austin, Texas, but suffered "harassment and abuse of power" at the hands of US immigration authorities.

"I felt prejudiced, suspected and simply humiliated even then, in front of many other people at the airport," The Tromsø native recounted. "They took me to a room with several armed guards, where I had to hand over my shoes, mobile phone and backpack."

Officers quizzed Mads about his visit, and his plans, before adopting a personal line of questioning. "They asked direct questions about drug smuggling, terrorist plans and right-wing extremism, completely without reason," he claimed.

"They demanded full information about everyone I was going to meet in the US, including name, address, phone number and what they did for work." Mads' mother was due to meet up with him a few weeks into his stay and the pair had planned to travel to several national parks.

"I had travelled for twelve hours, slept poorly, and was physically and mentally completely exhausted even before they started the questioning," he continued. A strenuous crackdown by U.S. Customs and Border Protection has followed President Donald Trump's return to office, with the service being allowed to search phones.



A French scientist was denied entry at the border earlier this year, in March, after officers unearthed messages criticising Trump on his phone. Mikkelsen explained: "They threatened me with a minimum fine of $5,000 or five years in prison if I refused to provide the password to my phone."

After handing over his password, Mads was told he would not be allowed to go through with his planned vacation after two images were not to the officers' liking. One image was of a meme showcasing JD Vance with a bald, egg-shaped head. Variations of the image were shared endlessly in March on social media, with the Vice President himself posting his own version.

The other picture showed Mads with a wooden pipe which he had made years prior. "Both pictures had been automatically saved to my camera roll from a chat app, but I really didn't think that these innocent pictures would put a stop to my entry into the country," the 21-year-old admitted.

Mads told Nordlys he tried to explain the images as being harmless and meant as jokes but the immigration authorities ignored his pleas. He claims he was then strip-searched, forced to give blood samples, a facial scan and fingerprints.

"Later I was taken back in, and the situation got even worse. I was pushed up against a wall and was strip-searched with a lot of force. They were incredibly harsh and used physical force the whole time," he claimed.

"I felt completely devastated and broke down, and was close to crying several times. I was on the verge of panic. It felt like I was a terrorist suspect where I was sitting. I tried to pull myself together several times, but in the end, I just wanted to get home again."

The Norwegian adds he was placed in a cell for a further five hours, refused food or water and placed on a plane back to Oslo the same day he arrived for the holiday of a lifetime. "I don't feel there is any point in contacting the State Department, nor do I think they have any power against such a powerful and strict country as the United States," Mads conceded.

Mathias Rongved, a spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned fellow Norwegians that it is their duty to be clued up on US regulations before entering the country. "Most trips to the US go without any particular problems," he said.

"Entry regulations can change at short notice, and it is the traveller's responsibility to have valid documents and be familiar with the current entry regulations. It is the immigration authorities upon arrival who decide whether you are rejected at the border. Norwegian authorities cannot intervene in this decision.

"It is also not necessarily the case that we receive a message either from other countries' border authorities or the Norwegian traveller if the person in question is not allowed to enter a country."


ADDITIONAL IMAGES FROM NOR PUBLICATION

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Neither article appears to mention (allegedly) his Youtube channel in which he tests firearms and such.

https://www.youtube.com/@mrminefield/videos
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This isn’t the first time a white Westerner being ‘mistreated’ has hit the news. There’s been Canucks, bongs, aussies, among others. It’s always a tragedy and miscarriage of justice that traumatized their victims.
They keep jumping back and forth between the groups hoping that it will stick this time....... complicated by the fact they are instant-gratification junkies with weak constitutions who can't stay committed to either for more than a week.
 
They keep jumping back and forth between the groups hoping that it will stick this time....... complicated by the fact they are instant-gratification junkies with weak constitutions who can't stay committed to either for more than a week.
The only things that stay in the American zeitgeist right now are Trump and Co. everything else from the newest school shooting or political violence to astroturfed hit media has at most a 14 day life cycle.

Even the Democrats only get mentioned when reacting to something Trump did. No one is really following their actions outside of that.
 
Why on earth are they looking at his phone unless they had good reason to?

This is like the headline "police arrest man after finding emulators and ROMs on man's computer" when the real story is "police arrest man after finding emulators and ROMs on man's computer, along with 50,000 images of CSAM"
 
A 21-year-old Norwegian tourist claims he was denied entry to the United States and harassed by ICE agents after they discovered a JD Vance meme on his phone.
Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant DHS Secretary, has weighed in:
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Just so no one misses the trick, read that sentence from the article again, and notice that it isn't a lie. They don't actually lie much, journalists. If you think that the fact that he was denied "after" they discovered a meme means he was denied because of that meme, that's just a fallacy: post hoc ergo propter hoc. In fact, they never tell you why anything happened at all in this article; they're not accountable for the impressions you form reading what they write. If you're going to read this slop, read it slowly and carefully. It's better not to read it at all, because again: notice that they didn't tell you why any of the events in the article occurred.
 
Do they search through every passenger's phone or is this just something they do if you piss them off first? Seems unfeasible to hang out at the airport and go through the contents of everyone's phone.
 
Do they search through every passenger's phone or is this just something they do if you piss them off first? Seems unfeasible to hang out at the airport and go through the contents of everyone's phone.
My experience with BP officers from any country is a complete mixed bag. Got my car searched once because a CBP officer didn't understand a certain US visa status. Sometimes I just walk through. Sometimes I get grilled on EXIT. Sometimes USBP have a problem with me reentering as a USC. Sometimes they ask me nothing from any country and waive me through. I have no criminal history. It just really depends on who is feeling like a dick today or not. Sucks, but dems the breaks. But I doubt this dude was denied for a meme.
 
Why on earth are they looking at his phone unless they had good reason to?

This is like the headline "police arrest man after finding emulators and ROMs on man's computer" when the real story is "police arrest man after finding emulators and ROMs on man's computer, along with 50,000 images of CSAM"
And really, even the "admitted drug abuse" part of the story is probably only one step closer to whatever actually got him pulled aside in the first place.
Unless he just looked the customs officer in the eye and said "Hurry the fuck up, I need to get out of here and huff some jenkem already."
 
Just so no one misses the trick, read that sentence from the article again, and notice that it isn't a lie. They don't actually lie much, journalists. If you think that the fact that he was denied "after" they discovered a meme means he was denied because of that meme, that's just a fallacy: post hoc ergo propter hoc. In fact, they never tell you why anything happened at all in this article; they're not accountable for the impressions you form reading what they write. If you're going to read this slop, read it slowly and carefully. It's better not to read it at all, because again: notice that they didn't tell you why any of the events in the article occurred.
Except it's almost certainly not ICE who didn't like his meme but CBP. But it's more sensational to claim that ICE were the big meanies.
 
And really, even the "admitted drug abuse" part of the story is probably only one step closer to whatever actually got him pulled aside in the first place.
Unless he just looked the customs officer in the eye and said "Hurry the fuck up, I need to get out of here and huff some jenkem already."
People are way too lenient on the authorities here. When did he admit drug use? Because apparently they felt the need to pull how over, question him and search through his phone.

I don't see any reason to completely believe the guy, in a situation like this there's at least going to be something that conveniently isn't mentioned. But if you actually read the article he says that they make him open his phone to them, and they hone in on the JD Vance meme and a picture of a pipe. The article puts more emphasis on the meme (like showing the picture) because that is more entertaining, which becomes THE emphasis when the story is picked up by other outlets. What is more likely is that the pipe got more attention than the meme, and maybe they wear him down to admit that he has smoked some weed.

Now why was he then picked out for questioning in the first place? I guess he showed some kind of suspicious signs or whatever.

The thing is that this guy is 99.99% likely not going to anything but being a tourist that leaves money in the US, while a lot of these border agents are people who will harass and deny entry to people because they are bored and/or just like to use their power over other people.

Also, not giving any official reason to a person why he was denied entry (which is a part of his story that I certainly believe) is another way to foster false narratives.

How come all these people get denied entry?
Correct me if I am wrong, but there has to be an actual reason for them to search your phone. CBP is processing tens of thousands of tourists a day, and yet they happen to stop someone only because of dumb meme? Hell I had memes making fun of both biden and zelensky on my phone, why did no one search my cavities? :mad:

In seriousness he most likely bad mouthed CBP people or started stirring shit.
Yeah, the actual reason they need: He seemed suspicious.

This bit does seem like we're not hearing the full story:

Interesting that the Norwegian government isn't expressing outrage but rather is saying, "Dude, have your papers in order." You would expect the former if there was no basis for this treatment.

Is it possible he was unfairly detained? Sure. But the insane histrionics around travel and immigration lately make me think there's something we're not hearing.
This is a canned response. They have no idea why he was denied entry.
 
Except it's almost certainly not ICE who didn't like his meme but CBP. But it's more sensational to claim that ICE were the big meanies.
True, that's a good catch. And I was honestly astonished that they used the language "due to" in the sub-headline, although they phrase things much more carefully in the body; but this article is definitely on the sloppy side.
 
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Tl;dr: Mads Mikkelsen was denied the US entrance due to the meme with bald JD Vance found on his phone and then caught and arrested by US border control
 
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Posted by CBP as well

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He probably thought he could just say whatever he wanted to a small local paper in Norway for attention, because it probably wouldn't be able to be fact checked, not even by the Norwegian foreign ministry as the US might not tell them the reason.
He 100% said "they saw the meme, then they send me back home" when talking to friends/family and coworkers. This wormed its way to the local newspaper and then he probably changed it to "it was because of the meme" in a retarded game of chinese whispers.
Then some international newspaper correspondent saw it in the local newspaper and here we are...
 
The local news paper got back to him after the official tweets:

TL;DR: He says he admitted to smoking weed a couple of times, but didn't think it was relevant since it was in a legal context.

Apparently he also received some paper work when he was refused that he just now had taken a look at, and it was full of errors about his background and story. Supposedly the pipe he had a picture of instead became a pipe he tried to bring into the US.

His own theory is that he was the victim of the border agents having deportation quotas to fill and he was an easy victim.

I don't trust him, but I certainly don't trust border agents to not abuse their powers either. In the end it's certainly an unnecessary deportation, but it does sound like he made it easy for them to refuse his entry.
 
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