UK couple banned from US on suspicion of celebrity graverobbing:

Two British tourists were barred from entering America after joking on Twitter that they were going to ‘destroy America’ and ‘dig up Marilyn Monroe’.

Despite telling officials the term ‘destroy’ was British slang for ‘party’, they were held on suspicion of planning to ‘commit crimes’ and had their passports confiscated.

‘I almost burst out laughing when they asked me if I was going to be Leigh’s lookout while he dug up Marilyn Monroe. I couldn’t believe it because it was a quote from the comedy Family Guy which is an American show.

I get challenged all the time by people who think that examples like this are no big deal. Let’s leave aside for the moment my thinking that this is not the kind of America that we’re taught we live in, and that bouncing anyone out of the country is a big deal if we care about who we are.

The non-idealistic reason why this is a big deal: no problem if immigration wants to question someone. But for these people to be rejected entry to the US makes it clear that the questioning was completely beside the point: no matter what they said, they were going to be sent home, because the officials involved have invested their egos into presumed guilty before proven innocent, in combination with a complete lack of oversight. That’s not law enforcement, those are the actions of a police state.