Three Dungeons & Dragons artists hired by WotC were detained by ICE in Seattle and then later denied entry to the U.S.

QuoteThe artists -- Anna Steinbaur, Magali Villeneuve, and Titus Lunter -- were allegedly detained at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport by ICE officials while en route to the United States for a brainstorming sessions. The three artists were supposed to be involved in a meeting to discuss ideas for upcoming Dungeons & Dragons content. Villeneuve will have her art featured on the cover of the upcoming Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica publication, and Steinbaur and Lunter have both contributed to previous D&D and Magic: The Gathering publications.

According to the reports, the three artists were detained for violating their ESTA visa waivers, an automated system that determines whether a person can travel to the United States without a visa. After six hours of being detained at the airport, the artists were handcuffed and taken to an ICE detention center where they were placed in cells without beds for 11 hours.

The following morning, the group were escorted back to the airport and then placed on flights back to their respective home countries.

As you can imagine, this incident is going over swimmingly on Twitter at the moment.  I wonder what, if any, impact it will have on the Ravnica book.

It is likely a combination of two factors

1) In most countries you can not work using the visa program that most easy to use. For example the US Visa Waiver Program. You can come and do business as long as it not work. For example to negotiate a sale, do service on a machine. There are exception but you need to make sure your passport is reflect the exception one is using.

2) If it is #1 then they are in the United State without a valid Visa. In this case deportation procedures take over.

It could be some other violation in which case the above is not relevant.

As for #1 this been around for a long time and not limited to the United. I have to deal with this when doing service work in Canada. They are just as anal as the United States on business versus work.  In short you need to make sure you have the right paperwork in hand when you are going to a country for specific business/work reason. You can get into countries to do work but it a distinctly different path and a different set of documentation.

As for #2 is this a result of the rabid Know-Nothingism of the current administration and their insistence on apply regulations meant to deal with possible felons or terrorist to everybody who in violation of a immigration regulation.

It never pleasant to deal with immigration authorities even when they are being polite. I had to endure on an fifteen lecture once by an Canadian immigration authority on why it was important that working Canadians get jobs first. Without knowing more it looks like a Visa snafu but made infinitely worse by the current policy of treating all immigration violations as a five alarm fire.

It looks like the solution is for Wizards to arrange for the correct Visas. Which will take time. Even before the current administration if Wizards wasn't having their outside staff come in with the right documentation they would have been deported. Wizards should have made sure this was OK. However with the level of traffic for custom to deal with it doesn't surprise me that it wasn't an issue until now.

Quote from: estar;1054395As for #2 is this a result of the rabid Know-Nothingism of the current administration and their insistence on apply regulations meant to deal with possible felons or terrorist to everybody who in violation of a immigration regulation.

This sort of nonsense needs to stay out of the general board. Seriously.

All I know is that this incident is going to generate a colossal internet shitstorm on both sides.

I'll grab the popcorn, this is gonna be good....

If they were in violation and here illegly they need to be deported. The law hasn't changed for decades. Nothing much to discuss. We either obey and enforce pur laws or we dont.

Quote from: Doc Sammy;1054399All I know is that this incident is going to generate a colossal internet shitstorm on both sides.

I'll grab the popcorn, this is gonna be good....

And now I wonder if the whole incident was a set-up, and the artists either volunteered, or were "volunteered", in order to stir up controversy and garner publicity.

Why does an artist even need to travel?  Isn't that what Skype and email is for?  Maybe if it was a launch party or something but then you just list "personal" on your reason.

Quote from: KingCheops;1054402Why does an artist even need to travel?  Isn't that what Skype and email is for?  Maybe if it was a launch party or something but then you just list "personal" on your reason.

Yeah, I was wondering this?  They apparently even come from countries with better internet than America, so why did they have to come to the U.S?

We have PLENTY of artists in the USA so WotC can hire them.

Also, many of these US citizen artists are POC, QWOC, and BBQ flavored!! WotC should be so excited!

BTW, I live in LA. We have LOADS of Evil Honkey EUROS who overstay their Visas by years. When I say I am against illegal aliens, I mean ALL OF THEM.

But most importantly for every day in every way, FUCK WOTC.

Could be they were called in to do photo shoots or for a group conference that cant be done via net.

But it seems rather odd that they were detained at all? Who notified officials these specific three people were inbound and doing something illegal? Seems a little suspicious based off what little is known so far.

Quote from: CHRISTIAN HOFFER @comicbook.comAfter six hours of being detained at the airport, the artists were handcuffed and taken to an ICE detention center where they were placed in cells without beds for 11 hours.

This is almost identical, including time periods, to what happened to me when trying to fly from the U.S. into England, where no prior visa is (or at least was, at the time I traveled) required.

Quote from: Omega;1054405Could be they were called in to do photo shoots or for a group conference that cant be done via net.

But it seems rather odd that they were detained at all? Who notified officials these specific three people were inbound and doing something illegal? Seems a little suspicious based off what little is known so far.

It could be that Wizards filed paperwork with custom letting them know that they were coming through.

The problem is that with going overseas from any country to any other country is that the regulations governing the difference between business and work is not hard and fast. From the mid 90s to around 2003ish, my company had no issue crossing over the Canada to do service work on our metal cutting machines. Likewise for people coming to the US that we had a business relationship with. We got updates occasionally and updated our documentation procedures and so on. Then in 2003 we had a rash bunch of people turned away on both sides of the borders. It took a month of back and forth and it turned out it was the wording on one of purchase orders that customs told we had to have. We changed it to the specifics they wanted and went back to normal. The purpose of the paperwork is to demonstrate in sufficient detail that you are there on business.

A note if you are found lying like in saying I am here for tourist but really business. Then likely you will be permanently barred.

So everybody likely thought they were doing what was right and legal but then it turns some custom official intrepets it differently. It get entered the system. So now they are rejecting you automatically unless you can PROVE that you have everything proper. Then you do through the process until things are back to normal.

So if you are a gaming publisher, author, artist going anywhere oversea on business. Get a letter from the other party on their LETTERHEAD stating the purpose. See your country's custom/state department go to the other country's consulate. Make sure you have every bit of paperwork they require AND suggest. And remember no country wants you to let you in to WORK unless you have a specific visa for that. Business generally yes work no.

And keep in mind the anal retentive nature of this is NOT new and NOT unique to the United State. The only thing new is point #2 I made in my initial post.

No matter if this was a deliberate set-up or not, the SJW faction at WotC will be having field day with this.

Very sad to see the anti-immigrant/anti illegal alien sentiment now comes across in main forum threads.

Quote from: jeff37923;1054410No matter if this was a deliberate set-up or not, the SJW faction at WotC will be having field day with this.

Don't know the specifics of this case, and so haven't formed an opinion on it yet. But this is a topic that extends beyond SJW circles. Lots and lots of moderate people are concerned about the aggressive actions being taken on the immigration front by this administration and feel it is xenophobic.