Norwegian Tourist Detained By ICE Then Sent Home From Newark Airport For Having Bald JD Vance Meme On His Phone
A Norwegian tourist said he was harassed and refused entry into the U.S. after he was detained by immigration officers at Newark Airport who found a bald JD Vance meme on his phone. No, I'm not joking. Mads Mikkelsen — no relation to the actor he shares a name with — had the privilege of flying into Newark on June 11 for an American vacation, but that soon fell apart.
The 21-year-old says he was pulled aside by border control and thrown in a holding cell. He was then subjected to what he described as "abuse, of power and harassment," according to the Daily Mail. Mikkelsen says agents asked him questions about drug trafficking, terrorist plots and right-wing extremism without giving him any reason as to why this was all happening. He also claimed the officers threatened him with a $5,000 fine or five years in prison if he refused to give them the password to his cell phone.
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Eventually, Mikkelsen apparently acquiesced, and that's when ICE found a now-classic meme of JD Vance with a big, beautiful, bald egg head. It's a photo you and I have seen countless times before. Hell, most of us probably have it saved somewhere on our phones. Still, it was enough for ICE to shut the door on Mikkelsen and send him right back to Norway, the Daily Mail reports.
That wasn't the only JD meme they found. There was also that classic picture of JD looking like a chubby child, according to National World. These memes are all from a trend that took off online earlier this year as people (rightfully) turned on Vance for being a huge dweeb and a dork. Before Mikkelsen was sent back, he told the outlet that he was strip-searched, fingerprinted, had his blood taken and was left in holding for five hours. I feel like this may have been a bit of an overreaction on their part.
As of right now, both outlets report that U.S. Customs and Border Protection hasn't commented on the incident. There's also no official indication that the memes found on Mikkelsen's phone are grounds for inadmissibility under U.S. law, according to National World. Of course, CBP officers have the broad discretion to deny anyone entry. I just feel like this is a bit of a silly case to make an example of someone.
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