I think the perception is the much bigger story here than the actual change in advice. Traveling to the US (and other countries as well) always had the chance to trigger some overzealous enforcement and/or arbitrary rejection or detainment.

But the current US government is very strongly ramping up the rethoric and actions in that area. That creates an enormous amount of uncertainty and this uncertainty will have effects. For some people (white, from western countries) this is probably still a very low risk, but anyone that fits the target profile of the new government is in much more danger.

For the average European there was never a risk of getting detained for weeks in a prison facility where the lights are never off and your only comfort is an aluminium foil blanket.

It's not just rhetoric. I agree that the risk isn't particularly high, but it did seem to have gone from 'negligible' to 'possible'.

White, from Canada, and even female: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/canadian-det...

What a horrific ordeal, and the Latin American women she met are having worse time. The worst of it is the "just following orders" robots (the foot soldiers of fascistic 1940s say hello) having no answers to her question of "How long will I be here?".

I wonder how it'll end. Trump/MAGA/Project 2025 can turn the country into a police state (Russia-style) with even more rigged elections (Russia-style) and the populace will probably just submit (and about 50% will defend it, some of them because of ego protection (1)). They are already ignoring judges' orders, basically saying "What are you going to do about it?".

Will someone in the military lead a batallion of tanks on Washington DC?

1) https://www.technicianonline.com/opinion/opinion-admit-you-r...

How is this a perception issue? It’s a real issue.

Even if the chances of getting detained on bullshit charges are slim, the behavior of the government is now so erratic and hostile that people who care will actively avoid going to the US. And for what exactly? Does anyone still wonder? Or do they just accept that the government constantly does stupid things for no real reason?

If my country behaved like the US for just one hour, the press would find enough scandals to talk about for a year. But the US manages to make the press move on to the next scandal. And the next. And so on.

Next year it will be rated electoral autocracy instead of democracy if nothing changes.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7486317

Can you show these numbers are significantly higher than the previous years' average? If you can't then it's perception

What is your country? Curious to see its border laws to see if I can be denied entry or deported if I break the law, which is clearly erratic and hostile behavior.

UK also. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-beefs-up-travel-war...

As I said before, I would not travel to the US unless my life depends on it.

The USA hosts 35 million foreign visitors per year. These enforcement actions are absurd, but if you have your documents in order and are planing a normal tourist trip. you will be fine.

Even during normal times with proper documentation I was detained for a few hours. This is something completely different. I’ve seen deportations immediately for wrong documents. I haven’t seen 14 days of arbitrary detention before for correct documents.

Honestly this seems to be a really short sighted view, none of the people that got arrested there really had reasonable grounds to be arrested, although I guess that legally they are "in the clear", but I am no expert, and this is high profile only because of the situation is absolutely absurd, and we are only two months in.

How many cases are not reported and as bad as this or worse? Am I willing to be gambling this?

Well a researcher was denied entry because his messages against Trump were deemed terrorism https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/trump-musk-f...

I would be scared of that as a tourist, and I guess a lot of other people would be as well. Not just because of being denied entry but for the possible investigations one could face

What was wrong with the guy at Logan who they beat the shit out of?

They detained a green card holder who didn't break any laws and tortured him for weeks. They deported a French scientist over private speech after searching his phone. Why do you think all this is just going to be okay?

Tortured?

Technically if you’re Venezuelan you could be sent to be tortured in El Salvador

"A criminal conviction in the United States, false information regarding the purpose of stay, or even a slight overstay of the visa upon entry or exit can lead to arrest, detention, and deportation upon entry or exit," information on the ministry's website now explicitly says.

That’s the updated guideline if you’re only reading titles

> The country's foreign ministry clarified the updated guidance doesn’t constitute an official travel warning to the US.

Clickbait headline. Nothing has changed officially.

The change they have made suffices for “tightens travel advice”. Not everything has to be an official warning.

> "A criminal conviction in the United States, false information regarding the purpose of stay, or even a slight overstay of the visa upon entry or exit can lead to arrest, detention, and deportation upon entry or exit," information on the ministry's website now explicitly says.

Everything has changed in practice, when people are detained at the border because they posted something on social media which was critical of Trump, in a country which prides itself on having "freedom of speech" in the constitution. When denial of entry means weeks in detention rather than an expedient flight back to where you came from. When going to speak at a conference can get you detained for violating a visa which has always been fine for that before. When people with green cards are getting arrested and sent for deportation... everything has changed.

That is incorrect!

https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/reiseundsicherheit/usaver...

Having to clarify that it's not a warning is a warning.

The Foreign Ministry of Finland issued an advisory that ESTA and visa rules have been changed to require that the gender entered must be the assigned-at-birth one (for the obvious discriminatory reasons). If you current travel documents don’t match that, well, good luck.

Absolutely. Trans people should absolutely not consider travel to the USA at the moment.

"A criminal conviction in the United States, false information regarding the purpose of stay, or even a slight overstay of the visa upon entry or exit can lead to arrest, detention, and deportation upon entry or exit," information on the ministry's website now explicitly says.“

Trump talked about "Shithole Countrys" on 1/12/2018. I am sure he talked about the future of the USA