March 15 // March 6
It’s cold there now, anyway. Maybe they can reschedule for July.
The outrage was swift, vociferous and not unexpected.
Earlier this month, we all read the outrage that flooded social media after Khriz Khan, an American citizen, abruptly cancelled his trip to Canada because his “travel privileges are being reviewed.” Khan, the Gold Star father who spoke at the Democratic Convention, has become a critic of President Trump and his policies, particularly regarding immigration laws. He had a Canadian speaking engagement scheduled, and the agency who arranged it - Ramsey Talks – announced the news that his appearance would not take place and refunds would be offered to ticket holders.
The following is a partial list of news organizations that published the story immediately: Huffington Post, Independent UK, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit and Yahoo News, citing Reuters News Service. Our favorite headline was in The Sacramento Bee: Khriz Khan’s trip to Canada cancelled beacuse travel privileges….(We didn’t read the rest. Our kingdom for a copyeditor.)
In his statement, Khan said: "This turn of events is not just of deep concern to me, but to all my fellow Americans who cherish our freedom to travel abroad. I have not been given any reason as to why. I am grateful for your support and look forward to visiting Toronto in the near future.”
We appreciate the message here and agree that the inexplicable roadblocks regarding this trip are troubling. But it would be helpful to know more, if only to help others avoid the same kind of surprising and unwelcome interference while traveling or attempting to travel. Is this kind of intrusive behavior the “new normal” for at least some American citizens? If citizens who are free of criminal or immigration malfeasance need to be concerned that every move he or she makes may be subject to some kind of governmental “review,” we should all be concerned, even if the longest trip we take is from the sofa to the refrigerator. Not good news.
In case you missed it (unlikely), here are the facts of the story as reported, and a few questions from Two Weeks Ago News:
A barrage of anger and name-calling against the President and his staff and renewed condemnation of the new immigration restrictions being enacted in Washington erupted, along with accusations of bigotry, racism and targeting, and the inevitable mourning of our republic as we knew it. You can almost set your watch by it – although not one of us wears a watch you need to “set.” (What do we say now? You can almost program your fitness tracker by it?)
At Two Weeks Ago News, we have a sliver of hope. A sliver; but still. Organizations including no less than The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Politico, Reuters and McClatchey News Service questioned the veracity of the story from the start. That didn’t stop the avalanche of hate but it’s a start.
And guess what? We know you know but here goes anyway: Ten days later, we still haven’t read the headlines explaining Mr. Khan’s travel complications, details about why they emerged and the reasons behind his statement of “deep concern.”
Is it possible there is a plot against Mr. Khan that’s being executed by The White House? Yes. It’s possible. It’s also possible that if that’s the case, he is concerned about the ramifications of starting to battle U.S. Customs for any reason (as yet undisclosed) and has decided to simply remain silent about the details. It’s also possible that the news about the revised Immigration law – released the same day as this heartbreaking story of Toronto speaking engagement gone bad – would get overshadowed because we were all horrified and expressing outrage at the inexplicable behavior of our Customs and Border Protection agency.
As has happened here before, we just don’t know. And if this is “news,” (not fake news; real news) we should know, shouldn’t we?
It’s cold there now, anyway. Maybe they can reschedule for July.
The outrage was swift, vociferous and not unexpected.
Earlier this month, we all read the outrage that flooded social media after Khriz Khan, an American citizen, abruptly cancelled his trip to Canada because his “travel privileges are being reviewed.” Khan, the Gold Star father who spoke at the Democratic Convention, has become a critic of President Trump and his policies, particularly regarding immigration laws. He had a Canadian speaking engagement scheduled, and the agency who arranged it - Ramsey Talks – announced the news that his appearance would not take place and refunds would be offered to ticket holders.
The following is a partial list of news organizations that published the story immediately: Huffington Post, Independent UK, The Hill, The Gateway Pundit and Yahoo News, citing Reuters News Service. Our favorite headline was in The Sacramento Bee: Khriz Khan’s trip to Canada cancelled beacuse travel privileges….(We didn’t read the rest. Our kingdom for a copyeditor.)
In his statement, Khan said: "This turn of events is not just of deep concern to me, but to all my fellow Americans who cherish our freedom to travel abroad. I have not been given any reason as to why. I am grateful for your support and look forward to visiting Toronto in the near future.”
We appreciate the message here and agree that the inexplicable roadblocks regarding this trip are troubling. But it would be helpful to know more, if only to help others avoid the same kind of surprising and unwelcome interference while traveling or attempting to travel. Is this kind of intrusive behavior the “new normal” for at least some American citizens? If citizens who are free of criminal or immigration malfeasance need to be concerned that every move he or she makes may be subject to some kind of governmental “review,” we should all be concerned, even if the longest trip we take is from the sofa to the refrigerator. Not good news.
In case you missed it (unlikely), here are the facts of the story as reported, and a few questions from Two Weeks Ago News:
- “Notified that his travel privileges are being reviewed.”
- By Whom? - No answer.
- What is meant by “reviewed?”
- No answer .
- “Who is conducting the review?”
- Bob Ramsay of “Ramsay Talks:” Not aware of “exactly who conducted the review,” but based on his communication with Khan “it was certainly U.S. authorities."
- Okay. So let’s check with U.S. Customs. They must know something. A law-abiding U.S. citizen was detained for no reason.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Declined to discuss Khan’s statement, citing privacy, but confirmed by email that it “does not contact travelers in advance of their travel out of the United States.” So given their “decline,” was it really a case of privacy or did they get caught trying to detain Mr. Khriz without cause?
- Customs also offered this timely reminder: Any U.S. citizen with a passport is permitted to travel abroad.
- Let’s go to Mr. Khan’s attorney. He’ll know something about these circumstances.
- No comment.
- Okay. Let’s try another attorney. Someone who knows a little something about the murky and mercurial nature of our Customs and Border Protection laws.
- Meet William Stock, an immigration lawyer based in Philadelphia. (He’s the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.) According to The Atlantic he “professed his puzzlement about Khan’s account. ‘Mr. Khan has not provided any details that would allow me to figure out what the heck he’s talking about,’ said Stock.”
- But given your experience in this arena, what do you think he meant by “travel privilege?” Again, from The Atlantic: “The use of that term makes no sense,” said Stock. “International travel has generally been seen as a right for U.S. citizens, not a privilege.”
- Hmmmm. Maybe it’s his Global Entry Status. That must be what’s being called into question.
- “Mr. Khan, is this related to your Global Entry Status?”
- No comment.
- “Mr. Khan, is this related to your Global Entry Status?”
A barrage of anger and name-calling against the President and his staff and renewed condemnation of the new immigration restrictions being enacted in Washington erupted, along with accusations of bigotry, racism and targeting, and the inevitable mourning of our republic as we knew it. You can almost set your watch by it – although not one of us wears a watch you need to “set.” (What do we say now? You can almost program your fitness tracker by it?)
At Two Weeks Ago News, we have a sliver of hope. A sliver; but still. Organizations including no less than The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Politico, Reuters and McClatchey News Service questioned the veracity of the story from the start. That didn’t stop the avalanche of hate but it’s a start.
And guess what? We know you know but here goes anyway: Ten days later, we still haven’t read the headlines explaining Mr. Khan’s travel complications, details about why they emerged and the reasons behind his statement of “deep concern.”
Is it possible there is a plot against Mr. Khan that’s being executed by The White House? Yes. It’s possible. It’s also possible that if that’s the case, he is concerned about the ramifications of starting to battle U.S. Customs for any reason (as yet undisclosed) and has decided to simply remain silent about the details. It’s also possible that the news about the revised Immigration law – released the same day as this heartbreaking story of Toronto speaking engagement gone bad – would get overshadowed because we were all horrified and expressing outrage at the inexplicable behavior of our Customs and Border Protection agency.
As has happened here before, we just don’t know. And if this is “news,” (not fake news; real news) we should know, shouldn’t we?