French scientist denied US entry over Trump criticisms

France’s research minister said a French scientist was denied entry to the United States this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration, writes Robert Mackey for The Guardian.

“I learned with concern that a French researcher” on assignment for the French National Centre for Scientific Research “who was travelling to a conference near Houston was denied entry to the United States before being expelled”, Philippe Baptiste, France’s minister of higher education and research, said in a statement on Monday 17 March to Agence France-Presse published by Le Monde. “This measure was apparently taken by the American authorities because the researcher’s phone contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration’s research policy,” the minister added.

“Freedom of opinion, free research and academic freedom are values that we will continue to proudly uphold. I will defend the right of all French researchers to be faithful to them, while respecting the law,” Baptiste said.
Full report on The Guardian site