'Bald JD Vance meme' got me barred from US: Tourist
An internet meme making fun of Vice President JD Vance was reportedly enough probable cause for the Department of Homeland Security to deny a Norwegian tourist entry into the United States.
Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) posted the meme to social media, writing, "Would be a shame if this picture spread again. Man 'refused entry into US' as border control catch him with bald JD Vance meme.'"
The meme portrayed a digitally-altered version of the vice president with a bloated face, bald head, and sporting a creepy, fixed stare.
As reported in The Daily Beast, 21-year-old Mads Mikkelsen — who shares the same name as a Danish actor — told his local Norwegian newspaper Nordlys that he had arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey when immigration officials stopped him for questioning.
Mikkelsen told the publication that without explanation, officers placed him in a holding cell and quizzed him “about drug trafficking, terrorist plots, and right-wing extremism."
Agents then allegedly threatened Mikkelsen with a $5,000 fine if he didn't let them scroll through his phone. That's where they found the Vance meme plus a photo of the tourist "with a homemade wooden pipe," both of which the agents flagged.
The Norwegian said he explained that the photos were a "joke," but they still "searched him and forced him to give blood samples and document his fingerprints.“
Mikkelsen said the incident made him feel like "a terrorist suspect."
The report added that it wasn't clear if Mikkelsen "provoked immigration officials in some way. However, he did note that he was exhausted having just deplaned a long flight across the Atlantic Ocean.“
Mikkelsen said he was ushered onto a flight back to Tromsø, a Norwegian city that is north of the Arctic Circle.
The Daily Beast reported that DHS did not respond to emailed questions about the alleged incident.