A few things that's happened to me as a citizen after invoking right to remain silent to CBP

1) Told I could not enter the country. Held up for 3-24 hours in holding areas. Officials come in and claim they will revoke my passport under "national security"-esque grounds. Lots of bluffing and huffing and puffing. Diesel therapy of being made to go back and forth to interrogating officers and then constantly prodded to be deprived of sleep. After a few shift rotations no one is left that know why you were being fucked with so you then [hopefully] get let go.

2) Dogs constantly come in, none of them alert. Eventually they get tired of finding nothing and write up a fraudulent affadavit for a warrant claiming one alerted anyway. Strip searched, hands cuffed and feet chained, imprisoned in a holding cell with people you can't speak the language of, diesel therapy again in prisoner van driven all over the state. Taken to two different private hospitals where CBP officers claim there is drugs up my ass. Cursed and touched without consent by private hospital staff (oh you can complain to the board as I did, lol, the state board just claims since CBP told the to their license isn't in jeopardy). Hospital staff rack up bills, which are sent to me privately and go to collections. Medical records state nothing was found but they "Think I'm packing drugs" anyway despite absolutely no medical evidence.

Have fun!

My sympathies are with you!

Is there anything you can do about it?

Fact is hardly anyone believes these things until it happens to them, because they don't want to believe we live in such a dystopia.

> A few things that's happened to me as a citizen after invoking right to remain silent to CBP

What happened that caused you to “invoke your right to remain silent”? When you enter a country, including the US, you are asked some pretty standard questions that would be weird to refuse to answer.

What question did you not want to answer?

This caused me to be fucked with mercilessly for about 10 years. Eventually I was investigated by an HSI officer who seems to have determined I'm just a crazy libertarian or something, now I tend not to get held up terribly long.

Edit: I have tried to answer below questions but it appears I cannot post any more messages until a certain times elapses. Below commenter has repeatedly shifted his attack, it is clear only goal is to shift and attack my message through a series of moving questions that keep moving the goalposts. 'This' did not happen 10 years ago, some of the events happened 10 years ago, some of them significantly more recent, and I have pretty much fully defined what sort of questions were answered. But of course it's pointless to even reply such commenters as I know from experience they are only going to dig endlessly until a magic 'gotcha' is found as to why I deserve it.

> This caused me to be fucked with mercilessly for about 10 years.

And this happened 10 years ago? I do not see how that connects to discussion of the current tightening of immigration rules, to be honest.

Probably US Customs and Border Protection.

What are some of the complications?

If what you're suggesting is that the US is not being more draconian than most, you're free to make an actual claim about how.

I'll note that this article is about people eligible for the visa waiver program, which does not include any African countries - travelling to the US from African countries is also far more draconian than what is outlined in the article, so it's unclear why you think the comparison is relevant.

Common to get a 10 year US visa. Schengen visa? For the duration of your visit (for which you have to have bought plane tickets and accommodation before showing up for a visa appointment). The EU also charges pretty hefty fees for a Schengen visa, which I view as a racket and/or xenophobia.

Don’t even get me started on the requirement to hand over your passport at hotels in Europe!

My point is that characterizing the US as “more draconian than most” is quite far from reality, which is a lot more nuanced.

Both of these are possible. Neither are nearly that simple.

For starters the validity period depends on the country, and the type of visa, and since you mentioned Africa, applicants from the vast majority of African states are limited to single entry visas with 3 months validity for B-visas. A few can get 4-5 years, and a handful (I think Morocco, Botswana, South Africa) can get 10 years.

Given that, it's rather odd that you used specifically African countries as the basis for comparison and then pulled out 10 year duration.

On the other side, it is reasonably uncommon to be limited to just the stay for Schengen visas, though it can certainly happen, especially for applicants from poorer countries. And validity can be up to 5 years. But you certainly can

> The EU also charges pretty hefty fees for a Schengen visa, which I view as a racket and/or xenophobia.

The standard cost for a Schengen visa is 90 euros or 105 USD. If you've paid more that has been service fees to application centres, not the EU fees.

The application fee for a US B-visa is 185 USD, in addition there is an issuance fee for some countries, most of them African.

Interesting that threats to national security and "antisemitism" are put on an equal footing and clearly above everything else; also makes me wonder what is "unlawful antisemitic harassment"- the US considers every speech lawful as far as I understand. Or, if some speech is indeed unlawful, is it going to matter only if that speech is against Jews or Israel?