2mo ago

Leftwing pundit Hasan Piker says US border agents grilled him on Trump and Gaza

www.theguardian.com

United States | News & Politics @lemmy.ml

Alsephina @lemmy.ml

2mo ago

Leftwing pundit Hasan Piker says US border agents grilled him on Trump and Gaza

www.theguardian.com /us-news/2025/may/12/hasan-piker-border-trump-gaza

News @lemmy.world

xc2215x @lemmy.world

2mo ago

Leftwing pundit Hasan Piker says US border agents grilled him on Trump and Gaza

www.theguardian.com /us-news/2025/may/12/hasan-piker-border-trump-gaza

31 comments

A two-hour "interview" is more an intimidation tactic than an "interview":
Piker, recounting the incident on his Twitch live stream on Monday, said he was led to a private room at Chicago O’Hare airport and interviewed for nearly two hours about his political views.
“The goal here is to put fear into people’s hearts, to have a chilling effect on speech that, like, the government is unafraid of intimidating you,” Piker said. “Does this stop me from saying whatever the fuck I want to say? Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous. But the reason why I wanted to talk about it was to give you more insight into what the government is doing, and to speak out against this sort of stuff.”
His responses were brilliant - and I'm taking note:
Piker repeatedly described the exchange as “cordial” but said he was transparent with the officer interviewing him that he planned to speak out about his experience, which the streamer said felt anything but random and “routine”.
Assuming the officer was familiar with his online commentary, Piker said he was candid about his views, telling the agent he was “not fond” of the US president.
He said the officer was particularly focused on his criticism of Israel’s prosecution of the Gaza war, asking him: “Do you like Hamas? Like, do you support Hamas? Do you think Hamas is a resistance group?”
In response, Piker said he told the officer that he was a “pacifist” and wanted “the endless bloodshed to end”.
“I just kept repeating that over and over again,” he said, describing the line of questioning as “insane” and a violation of his first amendment rights.
- His responses were brilliant - and I'm taking note
  No. Never talk to police.
  
  There is no police and right to a legal defense anymore in the US. Just goons.
  
  He's discussed how he did this to learn more about the process, and only because he's in a position of privilege being a public figure which gives him some measure of protection.
  He has stressed that normal people should never talk to ICE or the police, except to clarify if they are being detained or to request a lawyer.
- which the streamer said felt anything but random and “routine”.
  I think the issue is this is routine...
  He said the officer was particularly focused on his criticism of Israel’s prosecution of the Gaza war, asking him: “Do you like Hamas? Like, do you support Hamas? Do you think Hamas is a resistance group?”
  In response, Piker said he told the officer that he was a “pacifist” and wanted “the endless bloodshed to end”.
  If he had said anything close to "yes" to those questions, they'd have called him a terrorist and sent him to the death camp.
  
  He should have leaned in and answered those questions with, "Are you a Nazi?", with a dead serious stare into the guy's soul.
- Is he actually a pacifist? That was not my impression.
  
  Yeah, all those times he advocates for the end of wars. Extreme bloodthirst, that Hasan, not wanting children to be killed.
  
  Pro Hamas edgelord streamer
- He does like and support Hamas, he proudly says it every other time but wimps out when there's no camera on him.
  
  I mean let's assume he does support Hamas (he doesn't, the furthest I've really seen him go is saying their resistance is justified in the face of genocide). But if we assume he does personally like them, should that put you in prison? It's clear they were trying to get him to say something that they could detain him for, which is then pretty understandable why he "wimped out" in that situation. The fact that they were asking him about that to potentially detain him over it is insane and clearly a first amendment violation.
I don't know why he cooperated instead of what everyone should always do when arrested: demand a lawyer and then shut the hell up.
- He said why in his statement afterwards. He knows the amount of privilege he has as a rich American public persona, and wanted to use said privilege to see what these interrogations were actually like. He had a line he wouldn’t let them cross (searching his phone), at which point he would have shut up and gotten his lawyer, but the interrogation ended rather abruptly once he asked if he was being detained and they let him go. He shared some interesting anecdotes from his time in the detention area, and it’s good that this is being reported on instead of being done in secret.
- I’m not sure if you have a right to a lawyer in an interview. I think you would have to wait to be arrested but then you could go into holding for who knows how long.
  
  You do have a right to a lawyer for an extended interview, but only as a US citizen. If they allege you’re a non-citizen, I’m not sure what your recourse is then.
- This was immigration, not sure if shutting up and getting a lawyer helps there.
This is the thought police straight up.
The free speech exception
- So you think only some people deserve rights?

31 comments