According to France's research minister Philippe Baptiste, a French scientist who arrived in the U.S. on March 9 to attend a conference was denied entry and expelled after American authorities searched his phone and found "exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration's research policy." Robert Mackey in The Guardian:
[An Agence France-Presse] source said that US authorities accused the French researcher of "hateful and conspiratorial messages". He was reportedly also informed of an FBI investigation, but told that "charges were dropped" before being expelled.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United States is quickly becoming an Iron Curtain country, closed off from the rest of the world, and using the force of the state to supress any expression of dissent. It is on its way to creating an environment in which free-thinking scientists and intellectuals must flee to other countries.
Baptiste said in a statement: "Freedom of opinion, free research, and academic freedom are values that we will continue to proudly uphold. I will defend the right of all French researchers to be faithful to them, while respecting the law."
A French university is already offering a safe haven for American scientists. Link to an article by Dan Robinson in The Register is here.
Aix-Marseille University in the south of France is launching the Safe Place For Science program, offering a "safe and stimulating environment" for American researchers wishing to pursue their work free from persecution.
At a time where scientists in the United States may feel threatened or hindered in their research, the university says it is launching a scheme dedicated to welcoming those wishing to pursue their work "in an environment conducive to innovation, excellence, and academic freedom."
Previously:
• This scientist fed his own flesh to a Venus Flytrap
• Russian scientist who worked on coronavirus vaccine is stabbed, falls out of window to his death
• The top AI scientist who quit Google over Chinese censorship plans details the hypocrisy that sent him packing
