A 26 year old UK Man and his friend were recently flagged and detained in the US by the Department of Homeland Security before being sent home over Tweets.
After US Department of Homeland Security agents spotted a couple of Tweets from the Twitter account of Leigh Van Bryan, a 26 year old from Coventry, England, they flagged him. According to The Sun, when Bryan arrived at Los Angeles International Airport with his traveling companion Emily Bunting, they “were held by armed guards and quizzed for five hours before being handcuffed, put in a van with illegal immigrants and locked up overnight.”
So what were the two Tweets that got the two pals in such hot water?
One was a quote from the TV comedy, Family Guy, which read: “3 weeks today, we’re totally in LA p*ssing people off on Hollywood Blvd and diggin’ Marilyn Monroe up!” The other was a Tweet to a fellow Tweep stating: “Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America.”
The Sun goes on to write that, “Despite telling officials at LAX airport the term ‘destroy’ was British slang for partying, the pair were held on suspicion of planning to ‘commit crimes.’” Bunting, a 24 year old from Birmingham, England, told The Sun that, “Officials told us we were not allowed into the country because of Leigh’s Tweets. We just wanted to have a good time on holiday. That was all Leigh meant in his Tweets.”
After being held in separate holding cells for twelve hours, the two were put on a plane back to the the UK.
Image: apium
Quizzed for five hours! Wow. I’d make some sort of sarcastic comment, but I’d probably get strip searched at my next border crossing. So er.. yay! Go Immigration! You guys are doing an awesome job!
I don’t know who was more stupid: the twit who tweeted his intention to “destroy America” or the DHS agents who were convinced that a 26-year-old lager lout from Coventry was going to dig up Marilyn Monroe before unleashing Armageddon in the States.
On the brighter side, the DHS’s actions may discourage British party tourism in the United States. (Does Hollywood really want to become a sunnier, smoggier version of Prague?)
I guess the feds can’t take a joke…. Ridiculous
Slightly ridiculous. But this actually made me laugh a little bit!