> New America is absolutely terrifying.
New? I have advised people to not go to the US ever since they instituted the requirement to provide any and all social media profiles they ever had. Way too many chances for some off-context tweet from a decade or two ago to lead to getting refused at the border by CBP with no recourse.
Additionally, anyone who ever got arrested in their life - and be it a conviction for marijuana smoking as a kid and no matter if you actually got convicted, released or the records expunged/sealed - will either have to lie on their application (which is a bad idea because no one knows if the NSA doesn't have taps on other countries' judiciary systems) or have an additional arbitrary hurdle to pass at the border.
And on top of that you're in a conundrum: you have to book hotels, cars and flights prior to applying for a visa because you need that to prove you're not going to overstay... but if your visa/ESTA application fails, you're out a lot of money for nothing.
It's not just permanent or temporary immigration, tourists have been affected as well for years. But hey, the US seems to be willing to lose thousands of dollars for each tourist they scare off, so if it's worth it for them, I'll gladly spend my money somewhere I feel welcomed instead of like a threat.
All the 45th/47th admin has done is adding even more uncertainty to an already steaming hot pile of dung. At least our government has reacted and updated the hints on travels to the US [1], but shied away for now from issuing an official travel warning.
[1] https://www.spiegel.de/politik/usa-auswaertiges-amt-verschae...