If you are from a foreign country you probably don’t understand the workings of the US political system. You’re in good company—-I don’t understand it either.
You see, the party of small government has spent most of its time making government bigger and more invasive to the private citizen. For example, the all-powerful Department of Homeland Security are now planning to foist the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) upon those who wish to fly to the US.
The essence of the ESTA is a requirement that foreign citizens who “intend” (so much for spontaneous travel!) to visit the USA will be required to get permission from the government of the USA before they leave their own home countries. As we point out in our comments, and as airlines have objected in similar cases, the USA has no jurisdiction over foreigners leaving foreign countries. And their right to leave any country is expressly protected by human rights treaties signed, ratified, and binding on the USA.
So opines The Practical Nomad, Edward Hasbrouck.
The result of this is likely to result in a VISA war as it always has in the past. The ESTA is really VISA authorization in disguise, so it’s likely (in my opinion at least) that countries like Italy will retaliate by making Americans apply for a VISA to travel there.
It’s really all about a big government mucky-muck covering his ass. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff reveals all in a recent interview with Wired:
And then I guarantee what would happen is this: If you stopped using the watch list and basically anybody could get on a plane without knowing their identity, sooner or later something would happen — and people would lose their lives, and then there would be another 9/11 Commission and we’d hear about how you had this system and you would have kept them off and these people lost their loved ones on a plane.
The problem is, of course, that there are other existing ways to know who is on the plane. These restrictions and forms are piling up, making receiving travel authorization a real pain; authorization to travel is becoming eerily similar to the way it has been handled in countries run by dictators and other miscreants (and oh how we criticize them!).
It’s not just a pain for the traveler, but for travel agents and airlines as well.
In any case, if you’re interested in lost travel liberty, read the full text of Foreigners now need USA permission to leave their home countries