I suggest contacting the Pittsburgh office of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). They’re a national private-sector non-profit with vast experience in fighting government abuse of civil rights & liberties (gross abuses of which didn’t start with Trump, but did spike dramatically), via legal actions, generating media publicity, and attracting money (contributions). They’re the real-world experts in what works.
They’ll have a good sense of local conditions (e.g., nobody is getting deported in the semi-rural area where I live - there’s no political upside), and can give informed opinions about what is and isn’t likely, and what can and can’t be done about it. They’re also in touch with what the admin is actually doing (not just saying) all across the country.
But if people with power are determined to “make an example” of you, you’re hosed. Have no expectations of fair play, due process, or justice. You’re a disposable means to their political goals. They don’t care about you at all, or about facts. Zealots are fixated on their abstract idea of “a greater good” to the exclusion of all else (a mix of self-righteous conviction, cynical power-grabbing, and plain love of bullying). You may prevail in the end if there’s also a functioning legal system (which the US government still has, for now, at least partially so), but it may take years.
You don’t want to go there if you can avoid it. Even I don’t .
Reading these threads is quite interesting, it’s almost like some people are having their first experience being the targets of oppressive governments.
Some of us feel like this our entire lives and we share coping strategies the way other people share baking recipes.
In fact, my original motivation to bring this up was because the current situation is novel for many of the people in this community.
You don’t want to go there if you can avoid it. Even I don’t
How nice for you. I think I made it perfectly clear that I was not concerned about people who can choose to
There is a lot of “I can decide to stay home and I think everyone else should too. If anyone gets in trouble, they had it coming and they are on their own.”
If you find the current situation outrageous and prefer to avoid it: I agree with you. You can stop reading now.
There are people who experience these conditions as everyday life, the rest of this message is for them.
I’m not representing Pycon, the PSF, or any other organization.
I spoke with someone at Fetterman’s office (because
he’s the senator with the closest ties to Pittsburgh
his wife is Brazillian
GOP want to stay on Fetterman’s good side).
I asked if there was already a process for preparing ICE for the arrival of visiting scholars and expressed my concern that any problems would be a PR disaster for Pittsburgh. The staffer seemed to understand the situation and said she didn’t find out if this was already a thing.
I’m considering asking the convention center staff to find out if anyone has juice with a relevant agency.
I had not considered ACLU, they may have a resource kit for travelers, or other suggestions.
Do we an approximate count or how many pycon attendees have cancelled already? I would like give some numbers indicating the impact on local hotels and restaurants.
Blaise, in an earlier post you indicated that you lived some part of your life under Franco. You, above all, should know that in situations such as we are experiencing in the US (yes, for the first time in my 70+ year life), you avoid taking unnecessary risks. Just events in the mainstream US press the past couple weeks (Mahmoud Khalil, Venezuelan deportees, Yunseo Chung, Rumeysa Ozturk, Ranjani Srinivasan) should be a cautionary tale for anybody with foreign connections who’s considering PyCon attendance. I find it hard to believe that anybody from overseas couldn’t choose not to come.
Skip, you seem intent on hijacking this thread to tell people what to do (“don’t come”). You acknowledge that Blaise has lived under Franco, and somehow use that fact to tell him how to behave in 2025. This seems condescending and counter-productive.
We have all agreed with you that it is a good idea to stay away. That’s not what the original post was about.
Despite your advice, there will be some international attendees at PyCon. Blaise is talking about what to do for them.
It certainly seems that way, doesn’t it? I’m look at the situation I see here in the US today and am suggesting that people are missing something very important, that the immigration situation in the United States has changed dramatically for the worse since January 20th. In my view, the basic assumption that anyone must come to a conference (any conference) is wrong. I can’t conceive of a situation where personal safety is less important than attendance at any conference, and thus any other arguments you might propose to help people navigate the current immigration swamp in the US ignore that primary consideration.
Now, what are the odds of problems? Despite what we’ve seen recently in the news, I grant they are still probably very low, but they are also likely much higher than they would have been a few months ago when we had a rational federal government. Nevertheless, the actions we’ve seen recently are capricious and built on the most flimsy of excuses, so for anyone to say, “Hey, here’s what you do to guarantee a successful trip,” seems wrong. Nobody can say what the correct course is through the maze.
If there’s misunderstanding, I wasn’t replying to you, and am not disputing what you said. Just adding info I believe may be of value.
In particular, if someone decides to come and gets in trouble, they need to know about the ACLU. “Justice” in the US is expensive; the government has a comparatively infinite supply of money, lawyers, and time; the systems are very heavily skewed in their favor; and the ACLU frequently takes on these kinds of cases on a pro bono (“for free”) basis. Defending little people against government abuse is what they do, and they’ve had some stunning successes (they’ve been at this for over a century).
And they’ll stick with it even after politicians lose interest. Unlike many politicians, they’re acutely aware of that the US Bill of Rights applies to everyone in the country, not just to US citizens.
We understand why many people do not want to go and that they advise others not to go as well. That has been stated and re-stated multiple times by multiple people at this point. However, this thread is discussing how to help people who have decided to come or are looking for help and alternatives. Please keep to that topic and avoid further re-iterating “I’m not going” or “don’t go”.
A piece of actionable advice: if for whatever reason someone simply must attend PyCon[1], it is probably a good idea to route your flight through one of the airports that participates in the preclearance program (assuming it continues to exist).
That way, you will go through US customs before actually getting on the flight, and if something goes wrong you’ll be somewhere more hospitable than here.
This won’t protect you once you’re inside the country but I think it’s worth doing if flights allow it.
it’s the only way to break a curse; you arranged to pick up the antidote there; your even-more-terrible government demands it, etc ↩︎
100% yes! Thank you for the reminder. If you can clear border patrol before departure, that is excellent. Those checkpoints tend to be in Europe and North America, fwiw.
Speaking strictly as an individual, I’ve done the Dublin to Boston experience where you clear customs at the Dublin airport and just walk out in to the public/non border control part of the airport on the Boston side. I don’t have any experience from the last two months but if you are looking for an airport where you clear customs on European soil, the Dublin to Boston route is one of those.
Follow the link @jamestwebber already supplied. There are only about a dozen airports in the preclearance program. The majority are in Canada, and no others in the Americas. Only two are in Europe, both in Ireland:
While the link doesn’t say so, entry can be denied upon arrival even if you do pass preclearance. Purely speculating here, perhaps, in flight, US CBP finds a social media post you made critical of US foreign policy. US CBP always has the last word, and the current admin has amply demonstrated that, e.g., being critical of any aspect of the ongoing carnage in Gaza tells them you’re “a Hamas supporter”.
Not saying preclearance is a poor idea. To the contrary. Am saying it’s not available to most potential PyCon visitors, and offers no guarantees to those who can try it.
Thank you for the continued discussion, suggestions, and concern for our community being shared on this thread. The PSF & PyCon US team are also concerned about our international community and attendance at PyCon US. Historically our registration sees a significant increase in the next month and a half, so we don’t have an accurate picture of how the current situation will impact our registration numbers or revenue.
We have received a small number of cancellations, the majority of which have been unrelated to these international travel specific concerns (e.g. we have received cancellations if folks were unable to acquire a visa, which is a normal occurrence). We have contacted our main local contact- Visit Pittsburgh- to inquire if they have recommendations for the conference and our attendees.
Please refer to your country’s State Department, Travel Ministry or Department of Foreign Affairs for travel information specific to traveling from your country to the US. If you have a ticket and need to cancel, we will offer a refund and above all, we continue to urge everyone to prioritize their safety.
Due to Pittsburgh’s international airlift, international attendees will only come through customs in Pittsburgh if they’re flying in on one of Pittsburgh’s two direct flights from London Heathrow or Reykjavik, Iceland. With that said, international attendees will enter the US through other major international airports. The resources below will be shared resources throughout the country:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP):
Traveler Information: CBP provides comprehensive guidelines on entry procedures, customs regulations, and what travelers can expect upon arrival. We recommend familiarizing yourself with this information to help mitigate potential issues during travel: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Consular Notification and Access:
If a traveler is detained, they have the right to request that their country’s consulate or embassy be notified. Please be sure to have your country’s consulate or embassy contact information with you before traveling to the US. Detailed information on the consular notification and access process can be found here: Travel.state.gov
.