'Do you like Hamas?' Leading political commentators describe grilling at US airports
Julia Conley, Common Dreams
May 13, 2025
Customs and Border Protection Revenue Division. CBP is a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (Photo credit: Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock)
"It happened," said progressive online political commentator Hasan Piker on Sunday in a cryptic post on the social media site X—one that suggested he wasn't altogether surprised when he was detained for several hours by border agents at a Chicago airport after flying back to the U.S. from France.
He explained to his 1.5 million followers later that he had been stopped by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents "for additional questioning."
"I'm out, it wasn't that bad," said Piker. "Very strange experience overall though."
Piker shares his commentary primarily on YouTube and the streaming platform Twitch, and detailed the ordeal for his followers on both platforms.
The questions over the two-hour period suggested that the Trump administration has been following Piker's commentary, which has recently included vehement criticism of U.S. support for Israel as it bombards and starves the people of Gaza.
"They straight up tried to get something out of me that I think they could use to basically detain me permanently," Piker said. "[The agent] kept saying stuff like, do you like Hamas? Do you support Hamas? Do you think Hamas is a terror group or a resistance group?"
Piker shared his story as TikTok creator Savannah Pinder, who makes anti-Trump videos and clothing, said publicly that she had been detained at Miami International Airport after passing through Global Entry.
Pinder was taken to several different screening rooms and questioned about her work, travel history, and her father's citizenship status. Her father was born in Panama and became a U.S. citizen. Pinder, is a U.S. citizen and was born and raised in the United States.
"They asked me to provide my social media accounts for them to go through my TikTok, my Snapchat, my Instagram, and my Facebook, as well as show them how much I was making daily on TikTok," Pinder said. "If you are a United States citizen, you still have the chance of being detained coming back into the United States right now."
Journalist Séamus Malekafzali, whose work has been published in The Nation, The Intercept, and other publications, said he has had several experiences like the one described by Piker at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.
"Been pulled into secondary screening many times and O'Hare CBP had the most involved and specific questions about Gaza for me by far," said Malekafzali.
Ari Cohn, lead counsel for tech policy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said the incidents show that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CBP "are the 'enemies domestic' that federal officials swear an oath to defend against."
"No U.S. citizen should be detained by law enforcement, at the border or anywhere, because of their protected speech," said Cohn.
Piker said he believes border agents are detaining and questioning commentators and journalists "to try to create an environment of fear, to try to get people like myself or at least like others that would be in my shoes, that don't have that same level of security, to shut the f–k up."
The incidents follow the abductions by federal immigration agents of foreign student protesters whom the Trump administration has pushed to deport for speaking out against U.S. support for Israel and expressing support for Palestinian civilians in Gaza.Immigration agents "flagging and detaining one of the U.S.'s largest left-wing voices for their political opinions while the Trump administration suggests they might suspend habeas corpus does not portend well for the future," said lawyer and writer Alex Peter.
Julia Conley, Common Dreams
May 13, 2025
Customs and Border Protection Revenue Division. CBP is a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (Photo credit: Jonathan Weiss / Shutterstock)
"It happened," said progressive online political commentator Hasan Piker on Sunday in a cryptic post on the social media site X—one that suggested he wasn't altogether surprised when he was detained for several hours by border agents at a Chicago airport after flying back to the U.S. from France.
He explained to his 1.5 million followers later that he had been stopped by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents "for additional questioning."
"I'm out, it wasn't that bad," said Piker. "Very strange experience overall though."
Piker shares his commentary primarily on YouTube and the streaming platform Twitch, and detailed the ordeal for his followers on both platforms.
The questions over the two-hour period suggested that the Trump administration has been following Piker's commentary, which has recently included vehement criticism of U.S. support for Israel as it bombards and starves the people of Gaza.
"They straight up tried to get something out of me that I think they could use to basically detain me permanently," Piker said. "[The agent] kept saying stuff like, do you like Hamas? Do you support Hamas? Do you think Hamas is a terror group or a resistance group?"
Piker shared his story as TikTok creator Savannah Pinder, who makes anti-Trump videos and clothing, said publicly that she had been detained at Miami International Airport after passing through Global Entry.
Pinder was taken to several different screening rooms and questioned about her work, travel history, and her father's citizenship status. Her father was born in Panama and became a U.S. citizen. Pinder, is a U.S. citizen and was born and raised in the United States.
"They asked me to provide my social media accounts for them to go through my TikTok, my Snapchat, my Instagram, and my Facebook, as well as show them how much I was making daily on TikTok," Pinder said. "If you are a United States citizen, you still have the chance of being detained coming back into the United States right now."
Journalist Séamus Malekafzali, whose work has been published in The Nation, The Intercept, and other publications, said he has had several experiences like the one described by Piker at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.
"Been pulled into secondary screening many times and O'Hare CBP had the most involved and specific questions about Gaza for me by far," said Malekafzali.
Ari Cohn, lead counsel for tech policy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said the incidents show that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CBP "are the 'enemies domestic' that federal officials swear an oath to defend against."
"No U.S. citizen should be detained by law enforcement, at the border or anywhere, because of their protected speech," said Cohn.
Piker said he believes border agents are detaining and questioning commentators and journalists "to try to create an environment of fear, to try to get people like myself or at least like others that would be in my shoes, that don't have that same level of security, to shut the f–k up."
The incidents follow the abductions by federal immigration agents of foreign student protesters whom the Trump administration has pushed to deport for speaking out against U.S. support for Israel and expressing support for Palestinian civilians in Gaza.Immigration agents "flagging and detaining one of the U.S.'s largest left-wing voices for their political opinions while the Trump administration suggests they might suspend habeas corpus does not portend well for the future," said lawyer and writer Alex Peter.
By AFP
May 12, 2025
A high-profile left-wing influencer and political commentator said Monday he was detained for hours by US border officials and interrogated about his political views.
Hasan Piker — who has millions of followers on YouTube, Twitch and X, and been outspoken in his criticism of Israel — says he was held at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport for over two hours on Sunday.
He spoke out as the administration of President Donald Trump is facing growing criticism over claims of punitive action taken by federal agents against legal US residents for merely voicing progressive opinions.
Piker said his exchanges with officials were largely cordial but added that an officer asked him about his views on Trump and whether he has been in contact with militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
“He’s like, ‘Do you talk about Trump?’ And that was the first time where I was like, ‘What is this question?'” Piker said on a video posted to his YouTube account.
“I literally straight up told him. I was like, ‘Why are you asking me this… what does this have to do with anything?'”
Piker says he told the official: “I don’t like Trump. Like, what are you going to do? It’s protected by the First Amendment.”
The commentator maintains that his online content has never broken the law and only engaged in speech protected by the US Constitution.
“The reason for why they’re doing that is, I think, to try to create an environment of fear, to try to get people like myself — or at least like others that would be in my shoes that don’t have that same level of security — to shut… up,” Piker added.
Advocacy group Defending Rights & Dissent said it was “deeply disturbed” by the notion of border officials stopping political commentators to interrogate them about constitutionally-protected speech.
“Such an abuse of power is an affront to press freedom,” it said.
US Customs and Border Patrol did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment