Are we considering contingency plans for attendees traveling into the USA for pycon?
The situation is getting more unpredictable, people holding valid documents running into some bad experiences, even if they’re white .
I hate being the first to bring this up.
My hope is that we can invent some options that allow people to make decisions about travel while mitigating:
Impact on the hallway track, and open session experiences
impact on PSF income.
The USA is currently in the hands of a fascist regime and there is currently no safety and no protection for foreign travellers, in particular none for minorities. USA is currently a no-go area, more attached to Russian interests than Western values.
The only recommendation is: stay at home.
Also recommendation to the #PyConUS organizers: if you want #PyConUS to be an open conference for everyone of the community, move it out of USA, move the conference to Canada as long as the USA is in the hands of domestic bandits and traitors.
One recommendation is to get a burner phone and a fresh laptop without any chats or social media discussions where you criticize the regime. Exactly as if you were traveling to China.
Thank you for opening this topic. We have been receiving similar questions through other channels and have updated our refund policy for international attendees to help our community plan for PyCon US 2025 more confidently. We understand traveling to the US is currently complex, and we encourage each person to make their own decision based on their personal risk assessment and travel conditions.
I’d have been very interested in attending the typing summit, but nothing can convince me to step foot in the US
In addition to the individual precautions, have we already considered preparing the agencies for the arrival of Pythonistas?
For example:
Asking the Pittsburgh mayor to give Fetterman’s office a heads up that thousands of professionals from overseas are arriving for a conference.
Contacting the Pittsburgh chamber of commerce and asking for suggestions on how to escalate quickly through the state government.
The message should include:
Why would federal agenencies care about a major?
The situtation is plain and simple: any visitor risks being arrested and detained and kept for days..there are numerous examples feom greencard holders to visiting scientists. If you want to enter this rogue state, good luck. The USA is on the same axis as Russia and North Korea. Stay at home and don‘t support this country in any way.
Personally, I agree with @zopyx .
My inquiry concerns people who ARE coming and what we might do IF something goes wrong.
(Years in ops made me a fan of contingency planning)
I also lived in Spain under Franco (a genuine fascist dictator) so I have an intuition for dealing with these scenarios.
As far as I know,
the pycon planners have not yet made arrangements with the authorities to prepare for the arrival of several hundred VIPs from all over the world to one of Pittsburgh’s annual events.
I intend to do a bit of research to see if there is already something like a hotline for handling situations before they become a PR catastrophe for Pittsburgh.
Again, get serious and consider the gravity of the current situation as a serious personal risk to your life and freedom - nothing more, nothing less!
“several hundred VIPs”…sorry, there are no VIPs in this context and neither the PSF nor a major will have any power or influence on the decisions made by US federal authorities. Forget about hotlines or whatever. If you are in the hands of US authorities, no one can help you. In the best case, they put you back on the next plane. Sometimes, people have been kept for days (read the press). In some documented cases, persons disappeared for days - without communication or access to lawyers. The PSF can not help you here, a mayor can not help you here. You’re at risk and again: there is nothing where organizers or local officials can do anything about it.
From what I see on the news here in the US (I’m a US-born citizen), I agree completely with @zopyx. Some specifics dredged off the top of my head from recent news:
It is almost certain all these actions are illegal. The Trump administration is operating so far outside the bounds of US law that coming to the US right now doesn’t seem worth the risk to me. Go to EuroPython or some other non-US Python conference.
Above all, prioritize your safety over the attendance at a conference.
I completely understand why people would avoid coming to the US now.
I don’t understand arguing with someone who wants to help people who have decided to come.
Some people are obviously badly informed and not aware of their personal risk and options (if there should be a case). As said: the only recommendation can be: STAY AT HOME.
Yes, that is your message to international travelers considering attending. I understand. Some will decide to attend despite your advice.
You seemed to be arguing with Blaise, who is talking about what we might be able to do for international travelers who are attending. Maybe I misunderstood your point.
Even here in the US, it seems a large fraction of the electorate doesn’t see the full scope of what’s happening. It’s highly unlikely that people overseas, however well intentioned they may be, get the full picture either.
Why take the risk?
I thought I was clear that I do not recommend travel to the USA. It seems that the position of @smontanaro and @zopyx is “If you go to the USA, don’t complain if something goes wrong because we advised against it.”
My position is “If you must go to the USA, let’s think about what to do in the event that something goes wrong.”
(FWIW, I’m following the situation rather closely and it’s actually worse than what Skip
described.)
You must not go to a community conference. This is your voluntary decision.
@zopyx @smontanaro Maybe you are trying to say something like this?
If we do anything to improve peoples’ safety, or appear to improve their safety, then we are implicitly encouraging people to attend, and it is a bad idea to attend, so we shouldn’t encourage them.
Or maybe you are trying to say:
It is impossible to improve the situation for international travelers, so we shouldn’t attempt it.
Maybe you are saying both of these things. I’m not sure.
You haven’t said these things explicitly, but it’s my best guess, because I’m having a hard time understanding why you can’t separate these two ideas: 1) it’s wise to stay away from the US now, and 2) maybe we can do something for people coming to the US despite the risk.
Both Blaise and I agree with point 1. Traveling to the US now is very risky. I personally wouldn’t do it. You don’t need to respond to this post if you’re only going to say that again.
I’m really only saying the second. I can’t see how the PyCon organizers can do anything to improve the safety of foreign nationals arriving at a US port of entry. Customs and Border Patrol people are going to do their thing (whatever that might be) long before PyCon gets wind of it. We’ve seen instances of people with visa problems detained or deported, likewise people whose cell phones contain content the government don’t like being turned away at the border.
So, maybe you can help people by suggesting they travel with clean burner phones and burner laptops. They better be extremely clean though. Quoting from the above article from the Verge:
These days, most travelers are carrying a lot more in their pockets — not only information stored on a phone’s hardware, but anything that’s accessible on it with a data connection. “When you look at devices, the data that you carry with you isn’t just pertinent to your travel. This data can precede your travel by over a decade because of how much information is stored on the cloud,” [Saira] Hussain [of the Electronic Frontier Foundation] said.
So, no email or social media accounts which might lead back to your real data. No phone numbers of people back home (friends, family, colleagues). I guess maybe you could travel that “cleanly,” but in this day and age I’m not sure most people would be willing to go to such lengths. The Trump administration is behaving illegally and erratically in my opinion. Despite all you (the traveler) might do, do you really want to rely on the Trump administration to behave properly?
I think for all practical purposes, PyCon can’t help.
Thanks for clarifying your point.