In mid-June 2025, an X user posted several screenshots of an Australian man's Bluesky post claiming he was detained at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for 12 hours and
He claimed (archived) that he was targeted by U.S. authorities because of his pro-Palestinian blog posts about
They just came out and said it: "We both know why you've been detained…it's because of what you wrote about the protests at Columbia"
— Alistair Kitchen (@alistairkitchen.bsky.social) June 13, 2025 at 9:27 PM
However, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) strongly disputed this characterization. An agency spokesperson provided a statement to Snopes defending the detention:
Under the leadership of the Trump Administration and Secretary Noem, we have the most secure border in American History. This has allowed CBP [Customs and Border Protection] to focus to actually vet and interview the people attempting to come into our country. Lawful travelers have nothing to fear from these measures, which are designed to protect our nation's security. However, those intending to enter the U.S. with fraudulent purposes or malicious intent are offered the following advice: Don't even try.
The spokesperson rejected Kitchen's claims about political targeting:
Allegations that Alistair Kitchen was arrested for political beliefs are unequivocally false. The individual in question was denied entry because he gave false information on his ESTA [Electronic System for Travel Authorization] application regarding drug use. If a traveler violates the terms of their ESTA application, they may be subject to detention and removal. Using the ESTA is a privilege, not a right, and only those who respect our laws and follow the proper procedures will be welcomed.
The Electronic System for Travel Authorization is a program that allows citizens of certain countries, including Australia, to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa. Applicants must answer questions about health, criminal history and drug use; any false statement can lead to denial of entry.
Kitchen's account of how the drug issue emerged differs from the official explanation. In an interview with Australian Radio National's "The Radio National Hour" program, Kitchen described customs officials first questioning him about his political activities, then conducting what he characterized as an extensive search of his phone's private contents:
That was the most violating experience that I've ever had. I can tell you that I'm proud of who I am and the life that I lead. Nonetheless, the experience of having your entire persona given away to an entire state turns out to be demeaning in ways they didn't fully understand.
According to Kitchen, only after this phone search did officials claim to find evidence of drug use. Kitchen maintains the timing was connected to his political writings, saying "it's extremely clear to me that they only got to that information and only use that information exactly because of my writing on the conflict."
In response to Snopes' questions via email, Kitchen clarified what happened when officials claimed to have found evidence:
Yes, they explicitly said they had found evidence of drug use. No, they did not present me with that evidence. In that moment, I had no idea it existed or did not exist, and, afraid to be accused of lying, I admitted to past drug use.
Today, phone once again in hand, I see my phone did not hold the degree of evidence I was led to believe, and I profoundly regret complying with their interrogation.
Kitchen had written about Columbia University protests
Kitchen had published several articles on his personal blog, Kitchen Counter, about Columbia University's campus protests, including a seven-part series (archived), titled, "Liberation Zone," a set of dispatches he says he wrote while still a student at Columbia in 2024. The posts chronicled events on campus during the encampment and documented the day-to-day developments of the protest movement.
In a later post (archived) in March 2025, titled, "On the Deportation of Dissent," Kitchen described the demonstrations as "a concerted act; a coming together of groups Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and others too, to exert strategic pressure on an institution indirectly funding the massacre of peoples far away."
In his interview with Australian Radio National, Kitchen claimed that border officials questioned him about his political views on the Israel-Hamas war:
My view on whether a one or two state solution is appropriate to solve the Israel-Gaza conflict, I was asked to do it. I was also asked to name Jews who I was friends with. I was asked to name Muslims that I was friends with. I was asked what I thought about Israel generally, what I thought about Hamas. I was asked all manner of questions regarding this conflict that obviously have nothing to do with whether or not I'm suitable to enter the United States.
Kitchen also said border agents demanded his phone passcode and downloaded the device's contents.
Kitchen said he had attempted to minimize potential problems by deleting certain social media posts before traveling, but said officials were still able to access the content. He warned (archived) other travelers, "if you are deleting social media ~48 before your flight to the US, it is already too late."
Government officials described standard detention procedures
When asked by Snopes about the extensive political questioning Kitchen described, CBP provided procedural context. "Interviewing a traveler applying for admission into the United States is part of the admissibility process. This is a lawful routine procedure," a CBP spokesperson said.
The agency confirmed that when travelers are found to be inadmissible, they must wait for available flights back to their country of origin, sometimes requiring overnight detention "in a comfortable waiting area at the airport."
CBP also confirmed it is "standard practice that when a subject is removed from the country, their travel documents and phone are placed into a packet and given to the airline."
The case occurs amid broader Trump administration immigration policies
The incident occurred amid the Trump administration's expanded immigration enforcement efforts. On April 9, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it would begin considering what it termed "aliens' antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals" as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests, affecting those applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and those affiliated with educational institutions linked to what the agency called "antisemitic activity."
The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement (archived) calling Kitchen's