[lbo-talk] Homeland Sec Protects Us From Journalist

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

Doug:
> It's scary and depressing how hostile the U.S. government has gotten
> to foreigners. A British friend who's a freshly naturalized U.S.
> citizen is having severe problems with the authorities over his
> lawful wife, who'd be arrested if she ever set foot back in her
> native Uzbekistan. Another Brit friend is having trouble bringing
> over his Spanish girlfriend for an extended visit. And these are all
> educated people from countries who are supposedly our good allies in
> the war on terror. Obviously there are thousands more stories, and
> more horrible stories, but one of the good things about the U.S. used
> to be its relative hospitality to foreigners. Now that's gone, and
> you don't hear much complaint about it.

I have to admit I had a different experience.  This year (2003) I
invited my sister who lives in Poland, unfortunately a US ally in the
PGWII.  Albeit she teaches at a university, she is single, and hence a
suspect that she may want to stay here (which is not her intention at
all).  However, she told me that she had no problems whatsoever to
obtain a US visa in Warsaw or enter this country (INS can refuse entry
to people with visa issued abroad).  

I suspect that the experience of your friends is a result of a
deficiency of the bureaucracy rather than a policy change.

Wojtek