A Reporter? ‘Cuff Her!

When British journalist Elena Lappin arrived in Los Angeles in May, on assignment for a British newspaper, little did she know she would end up being the subject of her story. By her own account in The Times later that month, Lappin was interrogated for four hours, subjected to a body search, fingerprinted, photographed, handcuffed and forced to spend a night in a cell in downtown L.A. and a day as a detainee at the airport before being deported to London. Lappin’s crime? Admitting to customs officials that she was a journalist.

Tourists and businesspeople from 26 countries, including Britain, are allowed to visit the United States for 90 days or less without a visa. Those who enter the country for other reasons -- like journalists covering a story -- usually just claim to be tourists in order to avoid hassles. Lappin, who hadn’t realized she needed a visa, paid the price for honesty.

She wasn’t the only one. Since March 2003, 13 foreign journalists without visas have been detained and deported from the United States. Since May, at least two other journalists have suffered treatment similar to Lappin’s.

As a result of the scandal surrounding the Lappin affair, Robert C. Bonner, the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, announced recently that journalists arriving without a visa would be allowed a one-time entry and be advised of the regulation. That’s an encouraging first step, but not enough.

Why should journalists be more heavily restricted than tourists in a nation that purports to honor freedom of the press? The immigration law should be amended to include journalists among those who can enter the U.S. without a visa for a short-term assignment.

And why should someone who shows up at a port of entry without a necessary visa be treated like a criminal? Lappin was not trying to sneak into the country. No terrorist with any brains is going to pose as a journalist without a visa when the alternative is waltzing through as a tourist. People who don’t meet U.S. immigration rules should not be let into the country. But they can be treated civilly until the carrier that brought them in transports them back out -- as carriers should be required to do.

Unless customs authorities have evidence they are dealing with a criminal or a terrorist, no visitor should be handcuffed or thrown into jail. The United States should treat foreigners the way it expects other countries to treat American citizens.