British Author Sebastian Horsley Denied Entry into US
March 20th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
The 45-year-old author of the autobiography Dandy in the Underworld was denied entry into the great land of America due to “moral turpitude.”
Whaaaa?????
It’s definitely time to re-read 1984.
Horsley’s memoir explicitly details his lurid life of sex and drug addiction, and “travelers who have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude (which includes controlled-substance violations) or admit to previously having a drug addiction are not admissible.” Yeah well, he should have just been denied for calling himself a dandy.Evidently the FBI’s exorbitant Terror Watch List includes dandies with top hats.
Or maybe it was because they thought he was traveling with a Negro Magician?
Or maybe they thought he was just another illegal foreigner sneaking into the country to steal an honest American magician’s job?
So magic was definitely involved. Horsley is certainly a Harry Potter-loving, God-hating, Freedom-hater.
About Sebastian Horsley, it was my impression that he was stopped at the border and denied entry due to his self-confessed former drug addiction, conviction of possessing amphetamine sulphate a number of years ago and frequent use of prostitutes.
Any of these would disallow a traveller to use the Visa Waiver Program available to 23 countries’ very western citizens.
Mr. Horsley is still allowed to apply for a visa to the U.S.A. together with anyone else from the remaining 170 or so countries of the world. He hasn’t been barred from travelling to America, only required to follow the same procedures as citizens of Mexico, Iran, Vietnam, Japan, etc, whether they are writers, journalists, welders, or students.
With a chequered past, how could anyone expect to be able to travel on a privileged programme?
This is not about Mr Horsley’s memoir or his fashion sense. It’s about the Department of Homeland Security having a specific set of rules for a travellers’ programme, and following them regardless of who the person is. See the example of Amy Winehouse, similarly denied entry due to her drug problems.
Of course, who knows if this wasn’t a setup by his publishers? There was certainly some highly valuable press coverage of this incident all over the world.