The popular progressive political pennant said he was asked lead questions about Donald Trump and Hamas , among other topics .
Hasan Piker , an on-line pennon and political commentator , was detain for several hours byCustoms and Border Protectionofficers over the weekend and asked lead questions about what he thought of President Donald Trump and Hezbollah , among other subject , he say .
Piker discussed the surprisal detention in a Monday afternoonstream on Twitch , telling his nearly 3 million followers he was wonder at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago after bring back from a trip to France .
“ They literally , they tried to square - up get something out of me that I think they could habituate to basically hold up me for good , ” he said .
“ He kept involve over and over again , Hamas , Houthis , all this shit , trying to be like , ‘ Oh , do you support them , do you like them ? What do you call up about them ? ’ ”
Piker yield that he probably “ yapped away ” more than was in his own interest because he was hoping to trim down the hold short , and also because he wanted to see what variety of data they were looking for .
“ rather of just plead the Fifth as I ’m hypothecate to do in situations like this , I just kept giving him answer , ” he said .
“ cognise full well that they know exactly what they ’re looking for , I find out no reason to adjudge back on certain things , so I suppose , ‘ I do n’t like Trump . What are you going to do ? It ’s protected by the First Amendment … [ Trump ] said he was going to end the wars . He has n’t ended the war . What the f**k is up with that ? ’ ”
Piker said he was stabilise for the officer to inquire for his earphone . In preparation , he ’d turned off present ID on his iPhone and set up it to only use a passcode to unlock , which CBP officer ca n’t de jure compel you to provide if you ’re detain .
They never asked for the gadget , however .
( HuffPost has a thorough explainer herewith more information on what to do if a border factor involve for your phone . )
Reflecting on his hold , Piker say he suspects it was a deliberate attempt to sow fear in the media .
“ The reason for why they ’re doing that is , I recall , to adjudicate to create an surround of fear , ” he said . “ To seek to get people like myself , or at least others that would be in my shoes that do n’t have that same level of security , to shut the fucking up . ”
He later call it a “ completely idiotic and absurd [ tactic ] not knowing that I ’m a stubborn piece of diddlyshit , and that ’s not going to work at all . ”
A Customs and Border Protection voice confirmed to HuffPost that Piker had been “ concern for further review , ” but said that “ claims that his political belief activate the inspection are baseless . ”
“ Our military officer are following the law , not agendas , ” CBP said in an emailed statement . “ Upon entering the nation , this somebody was name for further review — a routine , rule-governed summons that happen daily , and can give for any traveller . Once his inspection was complete , he was promptly released . ”
While Piker may be the gamy - visibility person detained by CBP on their return to the United States , he ’s far from the only one .
In April , Amir Makled , a lawyer represent a pro - Palestinian educatee dissident , was detained at the Detroit Metro Airporton his way back from a spring break misstep afield with his family .
Makled told HuffPost at the time that federal agentsdidseize his sound , though he stood his earth amid the 90 - minute detention as he argue that , as a lawyer , his earpiece contained inner body of work - related data .
“ I do n’t have a go at it if it was a sportfishing expedition or not , ” he told HuffPost . “ My gut tells me they were attempt to see who I was associating with . But there ’s no tangible way to tell . ”
Piker did n’t instantly reply to a request for comment . This clause originally appear onHuffPost .
