Fresh Pile of Poop From Newsweek

No, I'm not talking about them hiring some nutroots twerp, rather this nonsense from Fareed Zakaria, who sees something ominous in an alleged drop in tourists visiting the United States.

Every American who has a friend abroad has heard some story about the absurd hassle and humiliation of entering or exiting the United States. But these pale in comparison to the experience of foreigners who commit minor infractions. A tourist from New Zealand, Rick Giles, mistakenly overstayed his visa in America by a few days and found himself summarily arrested for six weeks earlier this fall. Treaty obligations say his country's embassy should have been informed of the arrest, but it wasn't. A German visitor, Valeria Vinnikova, overstayed her visa by a couple of days and tried to remedy the situation—so that she could spend more time with her fiance, the Dartmouth College squash coach. Instead she was handcuffed and had her feet shackled, then was carted off to be imprisoned. She now faces deportation and a 10-year ban on entering the United States.

Of course, apparently none of these innocents are responsible for seeking a visa extension.

And who is Zakaria's source for such information?

(Thanks to AndrewSullivan.com for drawing attention to these.)

Enough said.

Sullivan, naturally, pats himself on the back and notes the above anecdotal stories came from reader comments.

Fareed echoes some of my readers' testimony about the police state atmosphere that tourists and foreign visitors have to confront when entering the US. Tourism has declined markedly in the US these past five years, despite booming elsewhere.

Surely, they've all been verified, no?

Zakaria offers no solution to this alleged crisis and just points to allegations of harassment and anecdotal evidence, of which he offers none.

The administration and Congress say the right things, have passed a few measures to improve matters and keep insisting that the problem has been solved. But the data and loads of anecdotal evidence suggest otherwise. The basic problem remains: no bureaucrat wants to be the person who lets in the next terrorist. As a result, when one spots any irregularity—no matter how minor—the reflex is to stop, question, harass, arrest and deport.

I suppose letting our guard down would be preferable to this mythical police state liberals fret over.

Of course, as Andrew Stuttaford points out at NRO, we're on pace for a record numbers of tourists this year, so if you're a Newsweek print subscriber, you have some fresh birdcage liner.

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