"Dangerous Extremist Propaganda": How A Bald JD Vance Meme Got Tourist Banned From US

A 21-year-old Norwegian tourist called Mads Mikkelsen was detained by the US Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) at Newark Airport for five hours. Mikkelson claims it was because of a doctored photo of US Vice President JD Vance.

After he returned to Norway, Mikkelsen spoke to a local newspaper Nordlys and stated that the USCBP agents threatened to slap a $5,000 fine on him if he did not unlock his phone and let them scroll through the photos. In his photo gallery, the agents discovered a photoshopped picture of JD Vance with a bald, egg-shaped head on his phone.

Mikkelsen told the BBC, "The agent seemed to be very antagonised by the image. He asked me why I had it saved on my phone." He went on to explain to the agent that it was just a meme, a piece of comedy. The agent responded by saying, "It's very clearly a piece of dangerous extremist propaganda".

However, he also said that he told agents about legally consuming cannabis in Germany and New Mexico, in places where it was legal to do so, after they extensively questioned him about drug smuggling, terrorism and extremism. He was also taken to a guarded room and asked to surrender his shoes, phone and backpack.

US law does state that an individual can be turned away for drug use even if they have not been convicted of a crime.

Later, USCBP clarified in a post on X that Mikkelsen was denied entry because of his admitted drug use. "Fact Check: FALSE," they posted, "Mads Mikkelsen was not denied entry for any memes or political reasons, it was for his admitted drug use." The Department of Homeland Security has also publicly denied that Mikkelsen was denied entry because of the meme.

Mikkelsen said that the entire episode had been traumatic because of strip-searches, luggage ransacking, fingerprinting, blood sampling and falsified travel records. His Norwegian passport had also been mistakenly labelled as "Spanish".

The paperwork he was given by US immigration officials, mentions another reason for his removal. Officials thought he may be attempting to seek unauthorised employment in the US. 

Mikkelsen said, "I would not return while the current government is in power."

US Customs and Border Protection say that about one million individuals enter the United States every day, and of those people, only less than 0.01 per cent of travellers have their devices searched.