A Norwegian tourist was denied entry into the US and detained after border control officials found a JD Vance meme picture on his phone.
Mads Mikkelsen, not to be confused with the Danish actor of the same name, landed at Newark Airport in New Jersey on a planned visit to his friends in the United States when US immigration officials placed him in a room full of armed guards.
The personnel then proceeded to threaten and interrogate him about everything from drug smuggling to terrorist plans without clear reason, he alleges.
"They threatened me with a minimum fine of $5,000 or five years in prison if I refused to provide the password to my phone," Mikkelsen told The Daily Star.
After giving up his password, he was told that he would not be able to continue his trip due to a viral meme picture of JD Vance edited to be bald and have a chubby baby face.
Mikkelsen tried to explain that the picture was a joke that had been saved automatically through a chat app, but immigration officials dismissed his appeals. They then allegedly strip-searched him against a wall before locking him in a cell for hours without food or water prior to being returned to Oslo the same day.
"I was on the verge of panic. It felt like I was a terrorist suspect where I was sitting. I tried to pull myself together several times, but in the end, I just wanted to get home again," he said.
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