Have Americans looked at the US recently when they make these jokes? The president over there literally wants to strip a mayoral candidate of his citizenship and deport him because he's gotten too popular
He was denied entry for admitted drug use and a picture of a pipe on his phone, which was legally searched with his permission. The Vance meme is a red herring.
Elon immigrated illegally, he violated his student Visa by starting a business. If we're being serious here he should be deported.
Yes, it's pretty silly to be denied entry for a picture of paraphernalia but it is federally illegal, and at the end of the day a country can decide who to let in.
Wait, a simple picture of a pipe is illegal to have? I don't believe that, that's actually insane. So for example, one could land in an airport, legally google a picture of a pipe, legally screenshot it so it's saved onto their phone, and now it's federally illegal?
Possession of paraphernalia is a crime. Having a picture of paraphernalia on your phone surely isn't a crime, is it?
A picture of a pipe is not illegal lol. Hell, a pipe isn't even illegal unless you can prove you're using it for illegal drugs. There's headshops in every single state in probably almost every city that sell pipes because they're not inherently illegal.
That is what CBP claims and there is no way to be proven true. The documentation he was given about the refusal does not mention anything about drug use.
Refusing entry for drug use to people from countries where weed is fully legal and also legal in most of the US with several high profile people that smoke publicly being allowed entry with no issue is clearly something that is obviously only used as an official reason when the actual reason is likely as stupid and anti-constitutional as that Vance meme, although CBP can refuse entry for any reason so technically they did nothing wrong, and the constitution does not protect people that are not in the US yet (although based on the current administration it doesn't protect people who are in the US either).
TL;DR: the drug use denial is most likely fake, and there is no way to prove it's true. Circumstantial evidence from usual CBP procedures points to it being fake.
Americans are hypocritical, yes. But marijuana is federally illegal, and he admitted to past use to agents.
There is also zero evidence to support his denial was because of the meme, unlike the pipe picture, that meme did not violate or represent a violation of any federal law.
Tbh that's still kinda dumb. A picture of a pipe means absolutely nothing and is completely contrived. It could be a screenshot from literally anywhere on the internet. A picture that someone sent to him. Something that he just found and took a picture of. Absolutely no way to prove that it was his, let alone at airport immigration lol. And admitted to drug use in the past? That's like saying "yeah I smoked some weed a few months ago" and being denied entry because of that. Because in 2025, half the western world smokes, and half of that is legal smoking.
He admitted to drug use, and did not deny it as being his. Yes, it's hypocritical, but a country can decide who to let in and who to not. He displayed a violation of federal law and was denied entry. Definitely dumb and hypocritical, but did you really expect anything less? We have stupid laws exactly for these "gotcha" moments.
I'm not denying that what border control did was legal. But is it actually illegal to have a picture of paraphernalia on your phone? I find that hard to believe. I know that possession of paraphernalia is illegal. But a picture of it? So I could take two seconds to google "crack pipe," screenshot, and boom I just committed a crime?
I think he’s referring to the fact that there is often context excluded from that conversation.
“And you had people -- and I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists -- because they should be condemned totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists. Okay? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly.”
Fair enough. I can definitely see that. I think what he’s was saying was more of a dig at the current state of mainstream media than an endorsement of white nationalism and the media presenting it as the latter is a bit of a validation of the former.
To be clear, I am NOT a fan of Trump, I just think a lot of discussions (when they involve him) tend to lack a lot of nuance.
I think it should be federally legal, but it's currently not. I wouldn't say I'm in favor of it, but I also believe our country can choose to deny entry to people who have historically broken our laws. This is a dumb example, but that's what's going on.
So just to be clear because maybe I wasn’t 100% on how the law works on this: I live in a non-legal state but when I travel to New Mexico to visit family and maybe smoke a joint I’m violating federal law? Because it is legal there. That can’t possibly be true, it leaves a giant loophole to declare any legal pot smoker a potential federal criminal.
Mostly just pointing out the insane absurdity of our times right now.
Airport customs is a federal agency and follows federal laws. State laws usually take precedence, but apply only to states, which means that you can smoke a joint in New Mexico, but you can't take it back home with you, and you can't be under influence when you leave New Mexico. Also, airport is international territory and the border you cross in the airport when you go through customs belongs to the country, not the local administration.
That’s consistent with what I’ve understood. So, judging from the article linked above, even as a US citizen I could be detained at customs entering the country if they suspect I’ve ever consumed marijuana (and they wanted to be dicks about it). That’s where I’m a bit taken aback.
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u/DunnoMouse Jul 04 '25
Have Americans looked at the US recently when they make these jokes? The president over there literally wants to strip a mayoral candidate of his citizenship and deport him because he's gotten too popular