U.S nationals, in particular those who have a non-Western ethnic background, are the subject of calls for more stringent immigration procedures by Peter Skaarup, the Danish People’s Party Justice Spokesperson.
Pre-travel disclosures and the introduction of visa requirements have been mooted for Americans planning on travelling to Denmark by both the Social Liberal and Danish People’s Party.
”We have had to admit that the Americans have not been as effective in their anti-terrorism efforts as we thought and that the threat against Denmark has grown,” said Skaarup.
Visit Denmark statistics show that close to 500,000 Americans visit the country each year. This number included one man who had recently been arrested in Chicago on charges of conspiracy to execute a terrorist attack against the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper.
Under existing legislation the Danish Police are able to request passenger lists from airlines but the proposed changes would allow increased cooperation with American authorities; to enable passport control checks to establish if visitors had repeatedly visited countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. US citizens are currently able to travel freely to Denmark. The same privilege requires some 133 other countries to obtain visas prior to arrival.
The Social Liberal Party has surprisingly supported the proposal with Justice Spokeswoman Lone Dybkjaer also voicing concern over recent developments. Dybkjaer said that the Chicago incident had sparked fears that terrorists would increasingly attempt to obtain US passports which would enable easier entry into Europe to carry out attacks.
”There is no doubt that terrorists are currently trying to organise themselves in many different ways. I will not rule out the possibility of having to introduce a stricter monitoring of travellers from the United States. But any decision must rest on a police evaluation – so I will be discussing this with the Security and Intelligence Service,” said Justice Minister Brian Mikkelsen.
Germany and other Nordic Countries will greet those American Tourist on behalf of Denmark. (so, Dear Danes, don’t expect any money returns from your neighbourhood) :D
THE REAL PROBLEM IS ALREADY INSIDE DENMARK. YOU HAVE A HUGE MUSLIM POPULATION IN DENMARK. TOO LATE TO GET RID OF THEM…
“the threat is … from young ‘arab’ males”
But there are many Arab Christians, eg 40% of Lebanese are Arab Christians. The only sure way is to make a note of which passengers choose the flight’s cheese sandwich option over the ham sandwich option.
Denmark needs to protect itself from terrorism.
Alas, it seems to be so deeply into “political correctness” that it has difficulty dealing with the realities of the situation – that the threat is not from ‘Americans’ per-se, but from young ‘arab’ males holding passports from ANY nation.
Scrutinize them, in a civilized way of course, and stop treating *everyone* like islamist terrorists.
And here we always thought Denmark was one of the worlds most sensible nations ….. my grandparents must be turning in their graves …….
Dear Runstone, Europeans do not need visas to enter the United States for a period of 90 days. this is a visa waiver which has been in effect for over twenty or more years.
Sorry, you’re correct about the headline Runestone. It’s just the first paragraph.
Does this mean that Obama is going to need a visa for the UN climate hoopla?
“I believe established legal precedent is the one-drop rule?”
Indeed, although the pencil test is a more recent established legal precedent.
“I do, however, have a serious problem with the idea of institutionalised racial profiling”
Religious profiling would be the most effective in this instance, but the authorities are reduced to relying on the correlation of a particular religion with certain racial traits.
I don’t see what’s wrong with the headline, Bromley. I also don’t see what’s wrong with asking for tougher controls on US citizens – because Europeans need visas to go to the USA and because of that newspaper terror threat, among others.
I do, however, have a serious problem with the idea of institutionalised racial profiling. Tougher visa requirements for all US citizens entering the EU, or nothing at all!
>Exactly how white do US nationals have to be to enter Denmark without additional checks?
I believe established legal precedent is the one-drop rule?
Actually, depending on how they’re structuring it, there really is no difference between this and any other screening. So if you snip the headline and the first paragraph, which may be the result of editorialising, there’s little to complain about.
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Exactly how white do US nationals have to be to enter Denmark without additional checks? To avoid potential confusion, the Danish authorities could use the scientific albedo scale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albedo) – I assume a cut-off around 0.5 is what they’re looking for.