In the recent past, the West has experienced a number of terrorist attacks, leaving many casualties in their wake. Some would say it is only natural therefore that the authorities would be extra careful about who is crossing into their borders.
But in a recent case, the American authorities perhaps took it a little too far, when they summoned a three-month-old baby for his intent of ‘terrorism’ in the US!
Little Harvey Kenyon-Cairns and his family were to fly out to Florida for a holiday from their English town. His grandfather, Paul Kenyon, accidentally checked ‘yes’ while answering the question, “'Do you seek to engage in or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities, espionage, sabotage, or genocide?” in the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) immigration forms needed gain entry to the US.
According to Kelly Mclaughlin’s report in Daily Mail, the family and Harvey were then summoned to the US Embassy in London, causing the family to make a ten-hour round trip from Poynton, Cheshire, where they are based. Kenyon said that the entire mix-up cost him £3,000. All this to quiz Harvey, who is too young to speak!
Given thow bizarre the situation is, Paul even thought of taking Harvey for the interview dressed in an orange jumpsuit, but thought better of it saying that the US authorities just didn’t see the humour in the situation.
But for what it’s worth, Paul said that Harvey was “good as gold” and didn’t cry at all during the interview!
Paul as well as Harvey’s mother took the little one to London a mere four days before their scheduled flight for Orlando, Florida. Even then, Harvey’s visa didn’t come in time, which meant that only half the family could fly out for the holiday as scheduled. The others left when Harvey’s visa came, days later.
Paul said that it was a “very expensive mistake”, but one he had hoped the US authorities wouldn’t have made them “jump through all the hoops for”.
And while it’s clear that Harvey hasn’t got anything to do with terrorism, espionage or genocide, Paul joked that Harvey had ‘sabotaged’ quite a few nappies so far.
He also makes a rather good point about the ESTA question which caused him so much trouble.
“'If you are a terrorist - I suspect you'd not be ticking YES on the ESTA form anyway,” Paul said.