Quote from: BedrockBrendan;1054413Very sad to see the anti-immigrant/anti illegal alien sentiment now comes across in main forum threads.

How is this about immigration and alienship? It was a visitor entry, not an immigration incident. Different issues entirely. Nobody was trying to emigrate anywhere, and no new law or policy was in effect regarding a VISA entry. It's the same procedure my friend from England experienced when she messed up here VISA when visiting the U.S. over 20 years ago, and was sent back to England on a plane as a child without her parents.  Which is scary, but it was because her dad had attempted to skirt an entry fee on her VISA.

My guess is they had a tourist VISA and tried to come here for a work meeting and therefore had attempted to enter using the wrong VISA. Same kind of issue anyone could encounter in almost any nation they visit - you do need the right VISA to visit other nations if it's a VISA- requiring nation.

Well, I couldn't give two shits, but since it's here, my first thought is "What am I not being told?"

QuoteThe artists were likely detained because ICE determined that they were in the country for paid work, which violates the terms of the ESTA visa waiver. While waiver recipients can have business meetings, they cannot be paid for any work done at the meeting. ComicBook.com reached out to Wizards for clarification on whether the artists were being paid to attend the meetings, but they declined to comment as of press time.

There you have it. Now, it's going to get politicised, and everyone will make hay while the sun shines. Whoopie.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;1054413Very sad to see the anti-immigrant/anti illegal alien sentiment now comes across in main forum threads.

Uh? Where? This thread has been mostly us wondering the how and why of it or commenting on some of the mechanics of why it may have happened as Estar did?

If you mean offsite then what else is new?

Quote from: Omega;1054421Uh? Where? This thread has been mostly us wondering the how and why of it or commenting on some of the mechanics of why it may have happened as Estar did?

If you mean offsite then what else is new?

Posts like this one:

Quote from: Spinachcat;1054404We 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.

There is enough of this in the subforum. Increasingly not seeing the point of posting here.

Quote from: Mistwell;1054417How is this about immigration and alienship? It was a visitor entry, not an immigration incident. Different issues entirely. Nobody was trying to emigrate anywhere, and no new law or policy was in effect regarding a VISA entry. It's the same procedure my friend from England experienced when she messed up here VISA when visiting the U.S. over 20 years ago, and was sent back to England on a plane as a child without her parents.  Which is scary, but it was because her dad had attempted to skirt an entry fee on her VISA.

My guess is they had a tourist VISA and tried to come here for a work meeting and therefore had attempted to enter using the wrong VISA. Same kind of issue anyone could encounter in almost any nation they visit - you do need the right VISA to visit other nations if it's a VISA- requiring nation.

I think anti-immigrant and anti-illegal alien sentiment can span from people seeking to live here permanently and to people just coming to visit or study. I know a lot of people who come into the US on various visas, and what I am hearing troubles me. I don't think this is the place to debate it, and I can't really weigh in on this particular case because I just haven't looked into the details, but I do think there is a troubling shift going on under this administration and the way they are treating people, how frequently this stuff is coming up, seems quite different, and much more aggressive. And I think the way ICE itself has been acting, has changed radically.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1054404When I say I am against illegal aliens, I mean ALL OF THEM.

We Canuckleheads are the biggest offenders.  Lying to get across in both directions is something of an art form up here.

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.

WotC is really at fault here for not helping them get set up.  When I was working for the local baseball team this was always a HUGE deal for us to help the parent club make sure everyone is set up properly and ready to go.  There were always problems which required a staffer to drive a player(s) to the border and then back across.

What tipped ICE off was probably honesty.  The customs official probably asked them what they were there for, the visitors gave an honest answer, and got nailed for not having their stuff in order.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;1054413Very sad to see the anti-immigrant/anti illegal alien sentiment now comes across in main forum threads.

But hardly surprising, is it?

jg

Quote from: KingCheops;1054425WotC is really at fault here for not helping them get set up.  When I was working for the local baseball team this was always a HUGE deal for us to help the parent club make sure everyone is set up properly and ready to go.  There were always problems which required a staffer to drive a player(s) to the border and then back across.

What tipped ICE off was probably honesty.  The customs official probably asked them what they were there for, the visitors gave an honest answer, and got nailed for not having their stuff in order.

Canadian politeness backfires!

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;1054414Don'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.

Are you really a "moderate" if you think enforcing the law is "xenophobic"? For that matter, are you even a moderate if you feel that "xenophobia" plays a role at all in immigration controls, and not a myriad of economic and practical matters.

But sadly, that seems to be the case. Unless you are for completely open borders, you're at best "xenophobic", at worst racist, etc.

Quote from: JeremyR;1054429Are you really a "moderate" if you think enforcing the law is "xenophobic"? For that matter, are you even a moderate if you feel that "xenophobia" plays a role at all in immigration controls, and not a myriad of economic and practical matters.

But sadly, that seems to be the case. Unless you are for completely open borders, you're at best "xenophobic", at worst racist, etc.

Not going to comment further as I don't want to make the issue I was complaining about worse. But you are putting words in my mouth.

Nothing new here at all. Since the late 90s, I have dealt with companies that don't take customs seriously. If anything smells like it is for work and you are traveling on a tourist visa, they are going to ask more questions, and some of them might be tricky. In the case of an artist, they could have been asked if they might 'sketch up' a design for their client during a meeting - and suddenly, it becomes 'work'. Same thing for other fields.

I had a bit of a prick for a client in the 90s from the UK that had permanent residency in the USA. They spent a whole lot of money bringing three buddy engineers from England to the USA, but told them to come on a tourist visa because the time would be relatively short. I told them they were at high risk of being sent back on the next plane...and that is exactly what happened.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;1054413Very sad to see the anti-immigrant/anti illegal alien sentiment now comes across in main forum threads.

Very sad to see illegal immigration being lumped in with legal immigration in a thread about invalid visas. But lefties.... I mean centraist.... whatcha going to do?

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;1054413Very sad to see the anti-immigrant/anti illegal alien sentiment now comes across in main forum threads.

Even more sad to see the hypocrisy of the no-politics.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell;1054440Even more sad to see the hypocrisy of the no-politics.

I am all for there being a hard "no politics" in the main forum. But hard not to comment when political opinions you strongly disagree with are making their way into the gaming section of the forum. I've been avoiding the subforum for that reason and trying to stick to RPG topics when I do post.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;1054423I think anti-immigrant and anti-illegal alien sentiment can span from people seeking to live here permanently and to people just coming to visit or study. I know a lot of people who come into the US on various visas, and what I am hearing troubles me. I don't think this is the place to debate it, and I can't really weigh in on this particular case because I just haven't looked into the details, but I do think there is a troubling shift going on under this administration and the way they are treating people, how frequently this stuff is coming up, seems quite different, and much more aggressive. And I think the way ICE itself has been acting, has changed radically.

You know, you were the one to turn the conversation on to this subject matter of anti-immigrant and anti-illegal alien xenophobia........