An Australian man, Alistair Kitchen, who was detained at Los Angeles airport and subsequently deported back to Melbourne, claims that US border officials cited his writings on pro-Palestine university protests as the reason. Kitchen, 33, was intercepted during a stopover while traveling from Melbourne to New York and was subjected to a 12-hour detention and interrogation by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). He believes he was “clearly targeted for politically motivated reasons” and was questioned extensively on his views regarding Israel, Palestine, and Hamas.
Kitchen, who had previously lived in New York for six years and wrote about protests in support of Gaza at Columbia University, asserts that CBP officials linked his writings to his Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) application. He suggests that cleaning one’s phone of sensitive political content is no guarantee of obtaining ESTA approval upon arrival in the US, as he believes the officials had pre-existing dossiers on individuals like him. He also regrets providing the passcode to his phone, which was confiscated for downloading and searching.
Kitchen, now back in Melbourne, expresses his fear of retribution from the US government and encourages other Australians detained upon arrival in the US to refuse turning over their phones to border officials. Despite this, he has chosen to republish the content of his “offending posts” on his blog. Qantas confirmed receiving a sealed envelope containing Kitchen’s personal items from US customs, which was returned to him upon arrival in Australia.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/15/australian-deported-from-us-says-he-was-targeted-due-to-writing-on-pro-palestine-student-protests
