As a US citizen it is still a bit useful. You cannot be denied entry (CBP has told me they would deny me entry, but in the end they just threaten to revoke your passport which is also a lie). If they have decided they want to search your phone, they will tell you that you just have to answer the questions and they will let you out in time to catch your next flight or whatever. The truth is they are vicious liars, as I have found out, once they are that suspicious you have already missed your connection. Once you are in secondary they are usually going to fuck you no matter what so might as well assert your rights.
They have always been assholes. I was detained by CBP back in 1997 returning from Europe (through O'Hare airport), even though all my papers were in order (I am a natural-born citizen and I had my passport) because I was overheard speaking Spanish (I was returning from a study-abroad trip to Spain). Someone actually demanded to know where in Mexico I was born, even though, as I said, I had my passport, state ID, and birth cert all right there with me. They just dumped me in a waiting room for 90m (long enough to miss my flight), then told me to go with no explanation or apology. On the way out someone laughed and told me they didn't know why I was detained but I "looked like a terrorist" (I had a full beard at the time). Mind you, this was before 9/11 so I'm sure it's worse now.
As things currently stand, this wouldn't qualify for denaturalization. Even the Trump proposals have been to do it for fraudulently obtaining citizenship (e.g. lying about a criminal record), not general crimes, and certainly not for non-crimes like annoying CBP.
It seems like they are claiming that “not saying you intended to protest” is essentially lying on the initial visa application, thus fraud and grounds for revocation of residence and deportation
So, if CBP confiscated someone’s laptop or phone (because they don’t want to unlock it), then break into it, and find social media posts against genocide, and/or against the Trump administration… given how they’ve acted, who knows what they’d do
I'm deeply displeased with their treatment of legal residents here, but denaturalizing a citizen is about a million times more severe than deporting a legal resident alien. The executive has pretty much unlimited authority to decide which non-citizens are allowed to enter or stay within the country, and has for a long time, whereas that's not the case with denaturalization.
Not sure about denaturalization, but this is getting pretty extreme already (USCIS, effective immediately, is screening immigrants for criticism of Israel):
It is, but this is still far less severe than denaturalizing a citizen. The executive has pretty much total discretion over which non-citizens they allow into the country. That power isn't anything new, it just wasn't abused like this before. Denaturalization for anything besides fraudulently obtaining citizenship would be a serious change, not just applying existing power in ugly ways.
> they just threaten to revoke your passport which is also a lie
Insofar as the current regime has little or no respect for the rule of law, particularly due process, I can imagine them revoking someone's passport. The Secretary of State could certify that you have engaged in activities abroad that are opposed to U.S. foreign policy. On paper, the conditions for revocation are rather narrow. In practice with an adverse administration and a largely captured judicial branch, who knows? Either way, personally I don't care. No warrant - no looksies.
