The Trump Administration recently approved even harsher vetting processes for people applying for a visa to travel to the United States. The U.S. currently has one of the most complicated visa processes in the world, and many groups believe that even stricter rules will put off foreign students, scientists, and others from coming here.

The new rules would allow officials to question applicants about their social media accounts, email addresses, and phone numbers from the past five years. Applicants would also have to divulge their home addresses, employment, and travel history from the past 15 years, as well as all previous passport numbers. So people would need to keep all the passports they have owned throughout their lives to apply for a visa to America.

All visa applicants wouldn’t face these new questions. It would be up to each consular official to determine whether additional questions are needed to “conduct more rigorous national security vetting,” according to a State Department official. They would also be voluntary, as the questionnaire states, but not answering them could result in the visa being delayed or denied.

Trump admin’s ridiculous new visa rules will hurt the economy. Total contribution of tourism in 2016: 8.1% of GDP https://t.co/jJQkgt5m5r

— Rachel Glickhouse (@Riogringa) June 2, 2017

The Office of Management and Budget approved the new questions last week. More than 50 academic groups representing college admission counselors and advisers criticized the new rules in a letter to the State Department. They wrote that the new rules could act as a deterrent for foreign students seeking to study in the U.S. and might also lead to confusion, uncertainty, and long delays in processing times.

It is also very ill-defined and vague in regard to who is affected by the new rules. One estimation said that the questions would apply to about 65,000 visa applicants every year. Earlier, the State Department said the new questionnaire would affect those “who have been determined to warrant additional scrutiny in connection with terrorism or other national security-related visa ineligibilities.”

But it’s likely that not everyone will remember every single place they traveled to in the past 15 years, or even every social media handle they are signed up for. Immigration advocates have said such detailed questions are likely to stop travelers who make honest mistakes from being granted visas. And since the questions are voluntary, and not answering could–or could not–mean that your visa is denied, it makes it an arbitrary process.

For now, the questionnaire has been emergency approved to be used for six months–the usual time for this type of vetting is three years. Considering the majority of the 200 comments submitted when the new rules were open for public comments were negative, this is likely to create more frustration and protests in the near future.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents on the Texas-Mexico border seized nearly 4,000 pounds of marijuana disguised within a commercial shipment of key limes. Yes, limes.

Border officers in Texas find nearly 2 tons of weed camouflaged as limes https://t.co/EPxhrjJNBH pic.twitter.com/FlYxZYnNmU

— CNN (@CNN) February 8, 2017

According to a CBP press release, the drugs were discovered on January 30 at the Pharr International Bridge cargo facility inside of a 2001 Freightliner tractor trailer. With the help of a non-intrusive imagining system and canine team, CBP officers located 34,764 lime-shaped bundles weighing a total of 3,947 pounds.

“This is an outstanding interception of narcotics,” Port Director Efrain Solis Jr. said in a statement. “Our CBP officers continue to excel in their knowledge of smuggling techniques which allows them to intercept these kinds of attempts to introduce narcotics into our country.”

The drugs are valued at approximately $789,467.

But even with the help of imagining equipment and drug sniffing dogs, it should have been pretty obvious to the agents that these lumpy green sacks weren’t limes.

Smugglers tried to fool Border Patrol agents with weed disguised as limes: https://t.co/TpZXJlki11 pic.twitter.com/56BzrxCjao

— VICE (@VICE) February 8, 2017

Apparently, this isn’t the first time smugglers have used fake food to hide narcotics. Last year agents confiscated 2,493 pounds of marijuana stuffed inside of pseudo-carrots entering from Mexico at the same border crossing.

So if you happen to be a drug smuggler living in Mexico with a penchant for stuffing marijuana inside fake fruits and veggies, you should seriously try a different tactic…or maybe learn what a lime actually looks like.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Thousands of travelers were stranded at airports during delays and subsequent chaos on Monday evening as the computer system for customs screenings went down in several cities. The system was only out of service for a few hours, from about 5 to 9 p.m., but since it was one of the busiest travel days of the year, the impact was profound. As the computer system for screening people was down, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers used “alternative procedures” to vet international travelers. The agency’s spokesman Daniel Hetlage said that officers had access to national security databases the whole time and that they screened all travelers properly according to safety standards.

Passengers on more than 30 flights that arrived at Miami International Airport were affected. In Atlanta, the outage “only” lasted for an hour and a half. In Salt Lake City, airport staff didn’t know where to put all the people to wait. “Delta had us all line up after we landed and it took a while before customs was even able to find us a place where we could wait because the airport is so small,” said passenger Jennifer Powers-Johnson to CNN.

The problems also hit San Francisco, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and New York’s JFK Airport. As people were coming back home from the holiday weekend and preparing to go back to school and work the day after, this was not a welcome surprise  and many travelers took to Twitter to express their frustration.

US Customs is down and this is the back of the line Atlanta #atl pic.twitter.com/RHcB8Fh4HF

— Darrellkc (@hamptonsunset) January 2, 2017

One passenger wrote on Twitter that two people had passed out because of the heat and humidity in the Miami airport.

@AmericanAir feeling a warm welcome here in Miami. Standstill at the passport control, and we’ve barely moved for half an hour. Please help! pic.twitter.com/gmKqPdWCDU

— Carlos Rico (@carlosrico011) January 2, 2017

According to the New York Daily News, a spokeswoman from the CBP, who remained anonymous, didn’t explain what could have caused the computer glitch, but she said, “CBP officers continue to process international travelers using alternative procedures until systems are back online.” She added that they were “working to process travelers as quickly as possible while maintaining the highest levels of security.” The CBP then sent out a tweet around 10:30 p.m., saying that the system was back online. But by then, most passengers already had been informed, and were delayed or had missed connecting flights.

All airports are back on line after a temporary outage of #CBP’s processing systems. No indication the disruption was malicious in nature.

— CBP (@CustomsBorder) January 3, 2017

Roger Dow, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, did not think the incident came as a surprise. He said:

What happened at Customs airport checkpoints yesterday is disturbing, but unfortunately it is not surprising. Technology at these facilities is too outdated to cope with existing travel volume, let alone the increased traffic we hope and expect to see at our gateway airports in years to come.

Maybe we all have to prepare for more complicated and lengthy travel procedures in the coming years.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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