Dem
47
GOP
53
The U.S. generates almost $2.4 trillion in tourist revenue each year. It would seem that Donald Trump and the Republicans don't want that money, for some reason.
It's not a secret that the "annex Canada" and "buy Greenland" talk have already soured quite a few travelers on visiting the United States. The various trade wars, even if they have not yet been consummated, have not helped, either. Then there's the fact that anyone who looks to be Latino, African or Muslim could easily find themselves detained, and possibly shipped off to a prison in god-knows-where. People who might have Donald Trump- or J.D. Vance-critical memes on their phones are similarly at risk.
And now there is more. This weekend, the White House announced that it was getting ready to exercise authority conveyed by the BBB, and to impose a $250 "visa integrity fee" on top of existing visa costs. And it could be more, since $250 is a floor, and the exact fee is at the discretion of the Department of Homeland Security, which is currently run by a crazy person.
As we try to make sense of this new policy, there are a few things worth noting. First, people from countries that are part of the Visa Waiver Program (mostly European countries) don't have to get a visa at all if they are staying for less than 90 days, and so would not be subject to the fee. Beyond that, even those who have to pay the fee can get a refund, assuming they leave before their visa expires, and assuming that they jump through whatever (currently unspecified) hoops are laid out by the Trump administration.
So, what is the administration trying to achieve, exactly? We have pondered it for about a day, and we've come up with four ideas. First, the purpose may be to discourage (mostly) non-European people from coming to the United States. That would certainly be par for this administration. Second, the administration may want an additional opportunity/excuse to collect information on people coming from (mostly) non-European countries. That would also be par for the course. Third, the goal may be to discourage people from overstaying their visas, which is the primary cause/source of undocumented immigrants. If so, well, we are hardly experts, but we doubt that if someone really wants to stay for whatever reason, $250 will be enough to cause them to abandon that goal. Fourth, this may be a way to try to fatten the government's coffers a bit, in the hopes that some meaningful number of people will forfeit their visa fees (perhaps because it's too onerous to secure a refund).
Whatever is going on, remember that number: $2.4 trillion. That's a big chunk of change. And while about half of that is domestic, that still leaves well over $1 trillion in foreign tourism. Maybe someone told Trump that the hated state of California earns more money from tourism than any other, and that doing everything possible to discourage visitors to the United States would be a swell way to own the libs. It is certainly true that the Golden State is the tourism king, but it's also true that the Top 10 list includes three red states (#2 Florida, #4 Texas and #10 Tennessee) and three purple states (#5 Nevada, #8 Georgia and #9 Pennsylvania). Maybe we're missing something, but it looks like yet another example of this administration implementing policies that will badly hurt the same people who voted it into office. (Z)