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The impactof ICE

 One of my best friends, is an investment banker in London. One of the big firms, for the past 25 years, has been going to New York at least six times a year. And to other destination at least four or five times a year all of these trips to the United States. My friend is British, the same way I am, except his grandparents were born in Jaipur, that’s in India for those who don’t know. My friend, is A 59-year-old banker, with a British passport having been born in London.

The last two times he flew to the US. He was harassed by immigration. Now my friend is not white, and his name is not Anglo-Saxon, in fact his name is very very Indian. But he’s also very very British. Now twice, it’s been stopped at immigration for over three hours, this is despite having a visa for multiple entry. It’s not really a visa, it’s just a permission to come to United States. Pretty standard stuff, and very useful for a guy like my friend who travels to the United States every single month.

Now, He’s imagining director in a big investment bank, he’s 59 years old, and can skip a lot of the BS. Guess what my friends doing now, his reducing his trips to the United States. Most of these meetings related to management committees or board meetings. Thanks to the Covid pandemic, he cannot do these remotely. It’s unfortunate, my friend enjoy seeing his colleagues when he was in New York, but as he said, twice in six months as detain for more than three hours at immigration, when he was evident, that being committed United States for years, that had a valid visa, and yet they treated me like a thief, an impostor, basically someone who didn’t belong.

he did the math, every day he’s in the United States, he expense about $1500. That includes flights, meals, and hotels. Of course, the hotels are not $1500, when in New York, and many other location he has access to corporate rate. But if she had everything up flights, taxis, food and hotels, it comes up to about $1500-$1800 a day.

Last year, in 2024, my friend spent 62 days in the United States. If you do the math, that’s nearly $100,000 per item. Now, that’s not a fortune. It is if you’re travelling as a tourist, but as a business traveler, it’s what it cost. Guess what he does now. Conference calls.

so what’s next, my friend has no idea. Right now, he has no plans to travel to the United States. No desire to travel to the United States. In addition, his wife doesn’t like that he travels to the United States. The last time it took hours for her to find out that he’s been detained by immigration.

in the end, there was nothing, it was just very inconvenient. He wasn’t late for meetings, he didn’t miss connections, but he was very inconvenient. My friend has made a decision, it was just too much trouble, and the effort was not worth it.

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