“They knew who I was and they were ready to receive me, let’s just say, and it wasn’t a very warm welcome,” said Piker, a left-wing political commentator who has more than 2.8 million followers on Twitch. (Twitch is owned by Amazon, whose founder, Jeff Bezos, owns The Washington Post.)
Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security assistant secretary, appeared to confirm that Piker was held for questioning but disputed any claims that political beliefs triggered his inspection.
“Our officers are following the law, not agendas,” McLaughlin said in a statement Monday.
“Upon entering the country, this individual was referred for further inspection - a routine, lawful process that occurs daily, and can apply for any traveller. Once his inspection was complete, he was promptly released.”
McLaughlin did not immediately respond to follow-up questions on what triggered Piker’s inspection or whether it is typical for such questioning to last two hours.
Piker described the agent who questioned him as a “sympathetic” and cordial Iraqi American man.
The agent asked about Piker’s thoughts on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and whether Piker was involved with Hamas, with Houthi militants in Yemen or with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
“They literally straight-up tried to get something out of me that I think they could use to basically detain me permanently, which is insane.
“Because there is no direct connection or direct involvement,” Piker said.
For those sorts of questions, Piker said, he kept repeating the same statements in reply.
“I was like: ‘I’m on the side of civilians. I want the endless bloodshed to end. I am a pacifist. I want wars to end.’ … And every single time he asked me a leading question about Hamas, I kept saying the United States State Department recognises Hamas as a terrorist organisation,” Piker said.
“He just kept asking me over and over again, like Hamas, Houthis, all this s---, trying to be like: ‘Oh, do you support them? Do you like them? Like, what do you think about them?’.”
Piker said he was more forthright in responding to questions about his thoughts on the Trump administration.
“I saw no reason to hold back on certain things. So I said I don’t like Trump. I was like, what are you going to do? It’s protected by the First Amendment. I don’t like Trump. … I don’t like him. He said he was going to end the wars. He hasn’t ended the wars. What’s up with that?” Piker said.
Piker’s reported detainment comes amid increasing concerns about the Trump administration cracking down on institutions and individuals who have opposed the President, especially those who have expressed pro-Palestinian views.
Green-card holders who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been arrested and threatened with deportation, but US citizens also have been questioned.
In his livestream, Piker mused that it might have been wiser to clam up but said part of the reason he kept answering questions was to see how far CBP might go. He acknowledged that, as a public persona with millions of Twitch followers, he was more privileged than someone else might have been in his shoes.
“And for me, I’m going to use the privilege that I have in that moment to try and see what they’re doing, okay? Because every single thing that they asked me – trying to get me to say something like, ‘Oh, I support Hamas’ or whatever – is literally not allowed,” Piker said. “ … Like, why is this denying me entry into the country of my birth? Like, this is my birthright. I’m an American citizen. You can’t just stop me at the border and be like: ‘What’s your opinion on Donald Trump? You’re not allowed to enter the nation.’”
Last month, Amir Makled, a civil rights lawyer representing a pro-Palestinian activist, recounted how he was taken to an interview room for further questioning at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. There, federal border officers told Makled, a US citizen, that they knew he was a lawyer with prominent cases and said either he could hand over his phone and passcode, or they would confiscate it and return the device to him later.
In a text message to The Washington Post, Piker said the agent did not try to access his phone. After he was questioned for about two hours, Piker said on his livestream, he asked the CBP agent if he might be held for questioning again on another trip. He said he was given a sheet of paper with instructions to contact the DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program to submit his “particular concerns and experience”.
“And he basically said, you know, you can figure out what not to do so that this doesn’t happen again. And I suspect the what-not-to-do is just don’t be a political commentator that speaks about American foreign policy, which is not something I’m planning on stopping,” Piker said.
– Washington Post
