Plano men denied entry to Ireland | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News — They were backpacking. Of course they had no plan to stay. They were backpacking!
immigration officials said they couldn’t enter Ireland because they lacked an address where they planned to stay in Dublin and bank statements to prove they could afford to travel.
“If they want us to go to their country, they shouldn’t do this,” said Colin Zwirko, 21, who sold his Volkswagen to help pay for the trip. “They should step up and apologize or help.”
Found by Tim Yates.
And yet the Irish are still one of the friendliest nations in europe. So it makes me wonder what these boys did to piss them off so much.
About 10 years ago I was backpacking through Ireland with a tent, and got permission to stay in a farmers field outside Galway for a night. It rained to heavily my tent collapsed. When I asked the farmer if I could sleep in their hay barn, they took me into their house, fed me & made up a bed for me. Next day they drove me into town. Try that in most countries and you’d be shot these days š
Funniest experience I had – staying in a backpackers hostel in rural Ireland and some locals came in to chat and drink. One of them during a joke referred to me as ‘a proddy’ (Protestant, me being from the UK). He then apologised for that. I of course took no offense and stated that I was an athiest. He hardly broke his stride before replying’ Yes, but are you a Protestant Athiest or a Catholic Athiest ?
Well, I laughed anyway…….
Awww… Poor yuppy spawn.
They’re from Texas, that’s the real reason they were kept out.
John, I’m sorry to see you misusing the language. The word “Fascism” is misused so often, it is losing its meaning. That is dangerous. Here is what fascism means:
—————–
from Wikipedia (slightly paraphrased)
Fascism is a political ideology. Various scholars attribute different characteristics to fascism, but the following elements are usually seen as its integral parts: nationalism, authoritarianism, militarism, and corporatism.
Former Columbia University Professor Robert O. Paxton has written that:
Fascism may be defined as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victim-hood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, ….. abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.
Paxton further defines fascism’s essence as:
1. ….. a sense of overwhelming crisis beyond reach of traditional solutions; 2. belief oneās group is the victim, justifying any action without legal or moral limits; 3. need for authority by a natural leader above the law, relying on the superiority of his instincts; 4. right of the chosen people to dominate others without legal or moral restraint; 5. fear of foreign contamination.
Don’t go. I once wanted to visit Europe especially the part that spoke English. Forget it.
It isn’t that I don’t want to respect the laws, rules, and customs but things have been regulated to the point that it feels like jail.
Of course we are getting to be the same way soon and in many place we may already be as bad.
Tryibg to enter the USA is a hell of a lot bigger hassle. I can’t imagine any country allowing apparently penniless people to enter on a tourist visa. The good ol’ USA sure as hell won’t. They’ll also fingerprint you, confiscate your laptop or iPod and if you happen to be brown, strip search you.
Yeah, this is pretty common and quite sensible IMHO. Traveling freely as a backpacker is great fun & very rewarding. But traveling without _any_ plans or means of support is bone-headed. All you have to do is provide some documentary evidence of “living money” and organise your first accommodation (Even just a night in a dorm) before entering most countries.
Quite often people get “effed-up” here in Australia by just wandering around in places like the Kimberly without enough supplies, comms options and/or telling people where they’re planning on going.
If you want fascism, you should try getting into the USA some time battling cocky and under-scrutinised TSA goons fearful of some fictitious “terrorism” threat.
The same thing has been happening at the US Canada border long before all the 911 hysteria. I tried to cross with a vehicle, and a tent to camp in. I was denied entry, have no criminal record. Just to show it wasn’t a racial or sexist thing, I am a white male. This happened to me in the early 90s. I had to prove I had a hotel room or friend to stay with, or show them enough cash to prove I wasn’t just going to find a job and stay in the country. Like I’d give up my Canadian health care…lol
nobody asked them to come to ireland….where did they get that idea from?
The purpose of letting tourists in is to get their tourism money. Nothing wrong with requiring them to show they have some. If they’re not going to spend money they’re useless to you.
Arrogant Americans – huh. Truth hurts. Problem is you don’t need to rub other’s noses in it – that’s just rude and stupid.
Ah yes, one remembers that Hitler’s regime started out with him banned backpackers from Munich.
In less serious news, Texan border patrol shoot a suspected illegal immigrant in a convenience store:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/us/02brfs-BORDERPATROL_BRF.html?ref=us
Thankfully, the holiday plans of white people were not affected.
āIf they want us to go to their country, they shouldnāt do this,ā – LMAO, no sh*t !!!
I have to agree with most of the comments here, the guys must’ve given the customs officers some attitude or something to get refused. Ireland is generally pretty relaxed when it comes to this sort of thing, unless some new memo has been issued since the “economic meltdown”.
Amuses me that this makes the news when the US/Canada/Australia etc. have much more stringent entry requirements with visas.
# 20 probably hit the nail on the head, there is a certain feeling that by holding a US passport, citizens think they are exempt from the rules.”I am a US Citizen, and I DEMAND entry!”.
Of course, I’m not suggesting that this stereotype is completely true, can’t paint everyone with the same brush, but you’ve gotta understand that there is a lot of resentment of US-foreign policy, NOT the people. If you must blame someone, blame the government for creating this climate of fear/paranoia, oh and McGyver for his years of flaunting borer regulations š
If you must blame someone, blame the government for creating this climate of fear/paranoia
No, I blame people, for electing them in the first place!
#21, Cow-Patty
Really? How come Iāve entered the EU from the US too many times for me to count and have NEVER been asked to prove anything, other than Iām carrying a US passport?
Because you are a habitual liar. In your dreams doesn’t count.
The few times I have entered the EU and even other countries, I have always been asked where I will be staying and how long I will be there. I have even been asked to show evidence I could afford my stay (France).
Of course, since you habitually lie, …
If what Dusan (#19) writes is correct, then I’ve *never* had all the things I needed to get over a border, I guess a couple of hundred times in my life. Many times, I haven’t had *any* of the three things he lists. Scary. Yet I was only refused once, when I volunteered information. I came back 12 hours later (when, I reasoned, none of the same employees could be on duty), kept my trap shut, and got through the border no prob. In Europe, I don’t remember ever having to answer questions (typically they look at your passport for 5 seconds to 5 minutes and let you through), except the UK, where they talk to you before you go in, not too dissimilar from Canada or the US. Of course, with the Schengen thingie, you can do a heck of a lot of travelling inside Europe without any border checks at all.
Well, I guess it was the swagger of false confidence that got me through!?
# 47 jbellies said, “If what Dusan (#19) writes is correct, then Iāve *never* ”
I figured out what Dusan was referring to. It is the law and is only applied if you look like a refuge. Business people aren’t bothered by customs people. They just ask what you are there for (business, tourist, etc.) and then stamp your passport.
obviously these clowns were acting the cunt at border control. All it takes is a few smart arsed remarks to attract heat off airport police. In saying that a group of young guys on the first day of their holiday are liable to act the cunt so id forgive them that.
Irish radio says they intended to couch surf around Ireland??? arse bandits perhaps?
P
Dublin
As an American currently residing in Ireland I can unequivocally state from personal experience that the average Irish citizen doesn’t really like Americans. The feeling goes from a mild indifference all the way up to rage. They have demonstrated by the hundreds at Shannon airport against the American military using the airport as a refuelling stop. And a few years back when the Air Force “Thunderbirds” aerobatic team was invited to the Galway summer festival to perform there were loads of “anti-American demonstrators in attendance.
Many times when talking to strangers on the street they ask me if I’m Canadian (that’s OK). But when I say: “No. I’m an American a sneer generally appears on their face. Now when asked I add: I’m an American, THANK GOD! That really pisses ’em off.
However, they do happen to like American’s dollars and the numerous American companies (Dell, Intel, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, etc, etc) who pump billions into the economy.
The Irish mentality is basically Uber-Liberal and their cheapness makes the Scotch look like Bill Gates charity organizations.
Many love two things about America
1) Disney World vacations. (The Irish like most Europeans declare it is the “Human right” to have at least 4-weeks vacations out of the country)
2) New York shopping trips. (Bring two empty suitcases to NY at the beginning of December and fly back to Ireland with thousands of dollars worth of goods. The amount of good allowed to be brought back without paying duty-tax is only about 100 dollars, but Irish customs turn a blind eye).
Basically, I figure the Irish have one big cultural insecurity complex. They like what America has (Maybe not after Obama has his way) but they cannot have it and that really sets off their spoild brat tantrums.
The refusal of entry to these 3-kids was just an individual’s way of giving the U.S. the finger!
My advice to those youngsters? Give the land of Leprechauns a miss. And write to Congressman Peter King (R-NY)and let him know what you went through in his “adopted” country.
Anyone who thinks that this is unusual, or especially onerous obviously has never been to the USA as a non-citizen. I would invite them to check out this:
http://wikitravel.org/en/United_States_of_America#Get_in
Note the requirements about supplying an address under “Arriving in the United States”.
“They have demonstrated by the hundreds at Shannon airport against the American military using the airport as a refuelling stop.”
1. They’re not protesting “refueling” – they’re protesting the use of the airport for the stopover of CIA rendition flights.
2. It’s not even a “few hundred people”; we’re taking about few dozen hard-left protesters out of a population of 4 million people. But well done for generalized based on 0.01% of the population.
3. If strangers asked me my nationality and I seriously replied “Iām an Irishman, THANK GOD!”, I wouldn’t be surprised at them sneering; that the reactions that nationalistic assholes usually get.
P.