Pre-Flight Safety Briefing: Researching the Environment in the U.S. without Being Detained at the Border

It is a turbulent time to be an international scholar in the United States. Students are being detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) for visa violations[1]; scholars are being interrogated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers for expressing criticism of the Trump Administration,[2] and entire institutions are being barred from hosting foreign academics.[3] Additionally, the U.S. Department of State is now subjecting academic visa applicants to extensive social media “vetting” to deny visas to anyone who might challenge the current administration. This is a terrifying attack on academic freedom, exchange, and mobility, which makes it even more critical for international scholars to continue to do scholarly work in the United States. It is becoming an act of resistance and protest to do environmental humanities scholarship here. As a former flight attendant, turned environmental historian, I hope this “pre-flight safety briefing” will help prepare would-be international researchers to safely navigate CBP and avoid any tangles with ICE. So before you embark on your next trip to the United States, let’s make sure you are ready for take-off.

Welcome Aboard Your Academic Flight to the United States.

Esteemed international colleagues, protecting academic freedom is of the utmost importance. Therefore, I ask that you please give your full attention to the following safety briefing as we review essential immigration procedures and best practices to decrease your risk of being detained by the U.S. government.

Before take off, it is necessary to make sure you have the appropriate visa for your visit to the United States. At this time (June 2025), the most common visa categories for longer academic stays are J and F. Generally, J-1 visas are for longer research stays, sabbaticals, short faculty exchanges, and undergraduate study abroad, etc., while F-category visas are for international students who wish to fully enroll in U.S. degree programs.

For short academic trips, you may qualify for the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). Keep in mind, you will need to have a valid ESTA visa to travel to the U.S. on the VWP. If you do not qualify for the waiver, you will need a B-1 Visitor Visa. For reference, the B-1 Visitor Visa is colloquially known as a “tourist visa.” Generally speaking, you can attend conferences with a VWP or a B-1 Visitor Visa.

You are also allowed to conduct short-term archival research on these visas as long as you are not being paid by any U.S.-based entity, which includes travel grants and other types of funding issued by U.S. institutions. If you are receiving any funding from the United States, it is safest to apply for a J-1 visa through an approved J-1 Program. To receive a J-1 visa, you will also need to obtain a DS-2019 Form, which is issued by the hosting institute. It is not possible to directly apply for a J-1 visa yourself.

Should you choose to opt for a VWP or a B-1 visa, please keep the following in mind. If a CBP agent asks you if you will be working while in the Unites States, you should never answer “yes.” Be specific: explain that the nature of your travel is professional, but you have no intention to work for a U.S. institution. It is a good idea to bring a copy of your employment contract, as well as a copy of your mortgage or rental agreement, to prove that you are employed outside the United States and thus have no desire to overstay. It is also wise to keep physical copies of conference programs and official initiators from universities, archives, or other academic destinations (such as National Parks), to verify the purpose of your trip.

Keep Your Passport in Hand, Open to the Picture Page.

On January 20, 2025, the Trump Administration passed Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” This order requires U.S. citizens to restore the gender listed on their passport to the gender identified on their birth certificate. Though this order does not directly pertain to international scholars, it does point to the hostility towards trans and non-binary people traveling to and from the United States.

If you are trans, non-binary, and/or if you present in any way that does not conform to the gender listed on your passport, you are at a higher risk of being denied entry to the United States or otherwise being harassed by CBP agents.

Please Fasten Your Mental and Emotional Seatbelts, as Turbulence May Arise Unexpectedly.

Having the right visa and an “accepted” gender presentation may still not be enough to ensure your entry into the U.S. People have recently been denied entry for some very unexpected reasons. For example, one Australian man was denied entry because his flight itinerary was deemed unusual, even though it is not uncommon to take indirect routes to save money.[4]

Meanwhile, a French researcher was denied entry after CBP agents found content critical of the Trump Administration on her phone – a reason many U.S. citizens have feared but expected.[5]Since social media vetting is now officially a required part of the visa application process for international students and scholars, it may be necessary to “clean up” your feed and temporarily unfollow certain accounts to ensure your digital footprint is free of:

Pro-Palestinian content.[6]
Anti-MAGA content, including memes.[7]
Posts about anything that might be illegal in the United States, including marijuana use, abortions, etc. Even if these things are legal in the specific State you will be visiting.[8]

As your departure approaches, please be sure to identify a trusted friend or colleague currently residing in the United States. Share your itinerary and planned arrival with them in advance. Should you be detained at the border and unable to contact anyone, this person can alert your family and potentially arrange legal assistance on your behalf.

In the event of an emergency, it is important to know your rights. Allow me to direct your attention to the following resources from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that contain vital information. Please be sure to review these before departure.

Thank you for your attention. We hope you have a safe and enjoyable journey to the United States.

Welcome to the United States.

We are so glad to have you here, fighting the good fight for academic freedom and the international exchange of ideas and research. Your work is important. Now that you have arrived, here are a few final safety guidelines.

Avoid attending protests. On behalf of my fellow U.S. citizens, we appreciate your solidarity, but you will likely not have comprehensive health care coverage in the United States, and it is not worth it to go into medical debt should you be injured.

Be aware of possible ICE raids in your area. If you are in the United States for a short-term academic trip, the likelihood that you will be targeted by ICE is comparatively low, for now. That said, if you are a member of a marginalized community, you may be at a higher risk of being mistakenly arrested.

If you are staying in the United States long term, it would be good to identify and carry the name and contact information of an immigration lawyer who can represent you, should you be arrested or detained during your stay.

This resource from the National Immigration Law Center may be handy just in case. It is available as a PDF download: “Know Your Rights: What to Do if You Are Arrested or Detained by Immigration.”

A Note From Your Purser.

Things are changing so quickly; a one-off article cannot hope to provide up-to-date information on visa requirements, exemptions, and application processes. With this article, I hope to raise awareness for the increased level of vigilance required of scholars who wish to visit the United States. Admittedly, I proposed this article before the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) began to simply kidnap people off the streets of Los Angeles. In the face of the human rights violations being perpetrated by ICE, the tone of my article feels a bit cavalier, especially since I mainly focus on advice for the initial border crossing process. I am, however, not an expert on immigration law, so I cannot possibly provide extensive guidance on what to do if you happen to be detained by ICE once you are already in the United States.

Though it is more important than ever to uphold academic freedoms, maintain academic mobility, and show up physically in the United States to foster international exchange, I cannot, in good conscience, advise queer, BIPOC, disabled, and any other marginalized communities that are threatened by the current political climate in the United States to travel.

In all cases, it is essential to assess both the actual risk posed by a trip to the United States and your risk tolerance before deciding to do research, or other academic work in the United States. If you do not feel safe traveling to the United States, there are ways to contact researchers in your field who are already based in the United States, or are citizens that can travel in your place, to do the work that you would otherwise pursue yourself.

I hope this article has helped you consider the implications, risks, and requirements of travel to the United States. Be safe.

[1] Brandon Drenon and Robin Levinson-King, “Anxiety at US colleges as foreign students are detained and visas revoked,” BBC News, 19 Apr. 2025.

[2] Allyson McCormack, “UNB law prof warns academics to avoid U.S. border where due process ‘is on life support’,” CBC, 20 May 2025.

[3] Yang Tian, “Trump suspends foreign students visas at Harvard,” BBC News, 5 June 2025.

[4];Anthony Dennis, “An Australian was denied U.S. entry for bizarre reasons. He’s not alone,” The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 Apr. 2025, web. De-paywalled courtesy Internet Archive.

[5] Arwa Mahdawi, “Keep calm (but delete your nudes): the new rules for travelling to and from Trump’s America,” The Guardian, 15 May 2025.

[6] Sanjana Karanth, “Trump signs order to deport foreign students who support Palestinian freedom,” HuffPost, 29 Jan. 2025.

[7] Eve Chen, “U.S. officials refute claim that tourist was denied entry over JD Vance meme,” USA Today, 25 June 2025.

[8] Samantha Topper Berns, “Information on social media can get immigrants deported or denied entry,” Nolo, 11 Apr. 2025.

Cover Image by author.

[*Cover Image description: The photo shows the inside of a commercial airplane cabin. Two bright windows let in natural light. In front are rows of black leather passenger seats with tray tables folded up. The perspective is from a seated passenger looking toward the opposite side of the plane.]

Edited by Katie Kung; reviewed by Lívia Regina Batista-Pritchard.