‘I don't want to give money to this America': tourists' fears of US travel under Trump
Last year, while Joe Biden was US president, Jenny and her husband booked a trip to Boston for June 2025.
The British couple had been to New York before and wanted to see more of the country. But after Donald Trump's re-election in November, Jenny said a 'shadow' began to fall on their travel plans.
Since Trump took office, reports have emerged from US border points of tourists being detained and interrogated, people with work permits sent to Ice detention centres and even a US citizen seemingly told to leave the country – as well as people being wrongly deported.
Overseas visits to the US were down 11.6% in March compared with the same month last year, according to the US National Travel and Tourism Office.
'I had a growing feeling that I really didn't want to give this new America our money,' said Jenny, a 54-year-old former librarian from Northamptonshire. 'But it took the news of the detainments at airports and borders to really crystallise our concerns into action.' The pair decided to cancel the trip.
Scores of people responded to an online callout to share their views about travelling to the US amid the Trump administration's policies. While several people reported no issues entering and leaving the US, others spoke of anxiety at the border and unpleasant interactions with officials – although many people raised it as being a longstanding issue.
Jenny said it was really frightening to see the reports of detainments and deportations in the supposed 'land of the free'. After deciding not to travel, 'we just feel so relieved,' she said. 'We've now cancelled the flights and hotel and are heading to Crete for a week instead. We'll visit Boston when Trump is long gone.'
Several people who got in touch after travelling to the US recently reported no issues at the border. Sarah, a 39-year-old who works in financial services and lives in Hertfordshire, took her seven-year-old daughter to Miami, the Everglades and the Disney and Universal parks in Orlando this spring.
'We were a little nervous about going, given recent coverage,' she said. 'Amusingly, our seven-year-old asked earlier this year, 'are we still going to America now that man is back?''
At the airport they found – gruff border officials aside – everything was fine. 'And my husband and I had a conversation about how we're probably quite privileged at the border, compared to some other families.'
But, Sarah added: 'It did make me think, am I being disproportionately frightened of something because of hearing coverage about rare or edge-cases? I tend to be quite data-driven, so hearing these stories in the news, we tried not to worry and just thought, we've done everything we need to do with visas and paperwork.'
Sarah said her daughter had a great time in Florida and at the parks. 'When we got out the airport in Miami, she said, 'The cars are massive!''
But for foreign citizens with partners from the US, travelling to America feels particularly anxiety-inducing right now. Paul*, a 44-year-old French citizen living close to the Swiss border, is in a long-distance relationship with his fiancee, who lives in Detroit. He plans to fly from Paris to Chicago in June.
'I am very uneasy about travelling, because I fear being denied entry – or worse, being detained, for whatever reason – and never being able to set foot in the US again,' he said. 'As my fiancee and I are planning on getting married in the US in the autumn, this would seriously jeopardise our plans.' For now, he plans to fly.
One silver lining of the heightened attention on the US border, he said, could be the exposure of longstanding unsavoury practices. 'Rightfully, we're all appalled at these recent stories,' Paul said, adding that he hopes these incidents will allow westerners to reflect on how border authorities have long treated certain groups.
Alex, 39, a Dutch civil servant with a Peruvian background, said when he was flying to Peru to see family in 2017 he was subject to a 'very angry' interrogation by a border official during a layover in Miami. He said they examined his computer and books and asked if he was a communist. 'I think it was intimidation for its own sake,' Alex said.
'In all honesty I'm quite scared to travel to the US, but at the same time I can't help but have this strong feeling of irony about this whole situation,' said Alex. 'Europeans now can face a treatment by the US that was previously reserved for folks from developing countries.'
*Some names have been changed.
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