(Adnkronos) – France expresses concern that a French scientist was denied entry to the United States after customs agents at the airport read messages on his cell phone criticizing Donald Trump. The French Minister of Higher Education, Philippe Baptiste, announced that “a French academic who was going to Houston for a conference was denied access to the United States and then expelled”.
“This measure was taken by the US authorities because the researcher’s phone contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed his political opinions on the Trump administration’s policies on scientific research,” the French minister continues. According to diplomatic sources, the scientist, who specializes in space research, was stopped on March 9 during a random check of his phone and computer.
The agents then found the messages which, according to the American authorities, “showed hatred towards Trump and could be qualified as terrorism”, the sources further report. At this point the French academic was accused of being in possession of “hate and conspiracy messages”, he was informed that the FBI would investigate, and the following day he was sent back to Europe, after his electronic equipment was confiscated.
Baptiste – who in recent weeks has asked French research institutions to consider welcoming scientists who leave the United States because of the Trump administration’s research cuts – underlined the importance of “freedom of opinion, freedom of research and academic freedom” reiterating the intention to defend them “within the limits of the law”. The French Foreign Ministry, for its part, while recognizing that the United States is “sovereign” in deciding who can enter and remain on its territory, says it “deplores the situation”.
Regarding the right granted to border agents to check the contents of electronic devices, it should be remembered that in 2017 the American Civil Liberties Union sued the American government calling this practice “unconstitutional”. An argument accepted by a federal judge with a ruling that was then overturned on appeal in 2021, and now the Supreme Court’s ruling is awaited.
