French activist Jose Bove denied entry into US

[Flagg]

French activist Jose Bove denied entry into US


PARIS, Feb 9, 2006 (AFP) - French anti-globalisation icon Jose Bové arrived back in Paris on Thursday after being turned away at the US border due to his past convictions for trashing a McDonalds restaurant and GM crops.

A smiling Bové told reporters at Paris' Charles De Gaulle airport that he had been caught up in a "senseless" and "grotesque" incident.

"I was turned back by the American authorities when I handed over my passport," the farmer activist, who was jailed for wrecking a fast-food outlet in southern France in 1999, told AFP.

Bové said the authorities in New York had declared him in violation of immigration rules due to past convictions over the McDonalds incident and for ripping out genetically-modified (GM) crops.

The anti-globalisation leader had been due to speak at a conference at Cornell University in New York state.

Bové said he had freely entered the United States on several occasions since his convictions, and questioned whether the incident revealed a "hardening of the administration" of President George W. Bush.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=25&story_id=27500&name=French+activist+Jose+Bove+denied+entry+into+US

[Kerrytravelers]

1. This will do great for foreign relations.

[northzax]

2. if you have been convicted of a felony

the US basically won't let you in. They aren't picking on Bove here, neccesarily, especially when those convictions come from destroying the property of Americans, it is to the discretion of the immigration officer to admit you or not.

[IndianaGreen]

5. We let fugitive terrorist Posada Carrilles into this country

but he only bombed a civilian jetliner at the behest of CIA.

Typical selective law enforcement!

[tmooses]

3. Freedom is in retreat here in the US.

n/t

[Benhurst]

4. Did he really expect to be allowed to enter

The Land of the Free and Home of the Whopper?

[DrGrishka]

6. He probably tried to enter under VWP

VWP-Visa Waiver Program allows citizens of certain countries to enter the US without previously obtaining a visa. However, in exchange the visitor must declare that he does not have a criminal record. A visitor with a criminal record is ineligible to enter under the VWP. He must apply for a visa prior to travelling and request a waiver of ineligibility.

[merwin]

7. kick

[Clara T]

8. Activist French Farmer Jose Bove Denied Entry to US

Activist French farmer Bove denied entry to US
Thu Feb 9, 2006 1:38 PM EST

By Christian Wiessner

NEW YORK (Reuters) - French farmer Jose Bove, a prominent protester against globalization and junk food, said on Thursday he was denied entry to the United States and speculated large corporations were behind the move.

Bove told Reuters he arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport with a valid U.S. entry visa on Wednesday afternoon but was detained for several hours and later returned to Paris. "They took my passport from me and said 'You're not allowed to come in for all the things you've done over the years, for speaking out,"' Bove said from France in a telephone interview.

He had been scheduled to speak Thursday and Friday in New York at an international conference of academics and trade unionists. Organizers of the conference, on globalization and labor, included Cornell University's Global Labor Institute. U.S. immigration officials did not return calls seeking comment, but the French foreign ministry said he had been refused for a mistaken response to a question about his criminal record. Bove said he was surprised at being turned back because he has visited the United States several times, most recently in 2005.

The Frenchman rose to fame in the late 1990s for denouncing agricultural free trade and genetically-modified food, and spent six weeks in jail in early 2003 for smashing up a McDonald's restaurant. He was sentenced to four months in prison in November for destroying a field of genetically modified corn in southern France.

http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-02-09T183841Z_01_N09375002_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-SECURITY-BOVE-COL.XML&archived=False

[Sequoia]

9. Corporations rule the USA.

I remember when he led that protest and I can't blame him. I've read about him now and again since then. You rock Jose Bove!