(Image Credit: IMAGN) A passenger walks through the security checkpoint at Sky Harbor Airport Terminal 2 on Feb. 4, 2020. The terminal will close today after the final flight, Alaska Airlines #617, departs for Seattle.
Houston, Texas – A French scientist was turned away at a U.S. airport and expelled earlier this month after border agents searched his phone and found private messages critical of the Trump administration, according to France’s research minister, Philippe Baptiste.
The researcher, who was traveling to a scientific conference near Houston on behalf of France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), was reportedly stopped by immigration officers, interrogated, and ultimately denied entry.
“This measure was apparently taken by the American authorities because the researcher’s phone contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration’s research policy,” Baptiste said in a statement to Agence France-Presse.
The incident, which took place on March 9, raises serious concerns about free speech, academic freedom, and the extent to which private communications are being scrutinized at U.S. borders. According to an unnamed diplomatic source, U.S. authorities accused the scientist of sending “hateful and conspiratorial messages.” He was also informed of an FBI investigation, but was later told that the charges had been dropped.
For Baptiste, the incident is part of a troubling trend in U.S. policy regarding science and research. He has been vocal in his criticism of budget cuts to scientific research under the Trump administration, as well as recent remarks by Elon Musk suggesting that NASA should shut down the International Space Station by 2027.
The timing of this expulsion is especially notable, as it coincided with Baptiste’s public invitation for American scientists to consider moving to France. On March 9, the same day the researcher was denied entry, Baptiste published an open letter encouraging researchers to relocate, citing growing concerns over the state of U.S. science funding and policy.
“Many well-known researchers are already questioning their future in the United States,” Baptiste wrote. “We would naturally wish to welcome a certain number of them.”
The following day, he shared a photo of a virtual meeting with a University of Maryland researcher who had accepted an invitation from Aix-Marseille University to relocate. By March 12, he was on French television, criticizing the way scientific research in areas like health, climate, energy, and AI was being “chainsawed” in the U.S.
It remains unclear exactly which conference the French researcher was scheduled to attend, but the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference took place in Texas from March 10–14, suggesting a possible connection. While the U.S. has long been a global hub for innovation, incidents like this may push more scientists to seek opportunities elsewhere—just as France seems more than ready to welcome them.
