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Hasan Piker, a left-wing political commentator with millions of followers on social media, was detained and interrogated on his political views for hours by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents after he returned from a trip overseas this week.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security claimed that Piker, a U.S.-born citizen who was carrying his passport after returning from a trip to France, was selected as part of a random check at O’Hare airport in Chicago. The spokesperson denied that Piker’s politics played any role in his questioning, accusing him of “lying for likes.”
However, Piker’s recollection of being singled out for his political views is consistent with other accounts of customs agents detaining citizens reentering the country under the Trump administration.
Detailing the ordeal on his Twitch stream on Monday, Piker said he was led to a private room at the airport and was interrogated by CBP agents for around two hours. He described the interaction as “really interesting” and “very cordial,” but was troubled by agents’ line of questioning.
“It’s very obvious they knew exactly who the fuck I was,” said Piker, who is a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Piker said that agents inquired whether he has any connections to Hamas, the Houthis or Hezbollah. They also questioned him regarding his criticism of the Trump administration, he said.
“[An agent was] like, ‘Do you talk about Trump?’ And that was the first time where I was like, ‘What is this question?'” Piker recalled. “I literally straight up told him. I was like, ‘Why are you asking me this…what does this have to do with anything?'”
Piker explained to his viewers that he was candid in his responses.
“I don’t like Trump. Like, what are you going to do? It’s protected by the First Amendment,” he said.
Piker suspects that the CBP agents were trying to “get something out of me that I think they could use to basically detain me permanently,” he said.
The reason for why they’re doing that is, I think, to try to create an environment of fear, to try to get people like myself — or at least like others that would be in my shoes that don’t have that same level of security — to shut…up.
In text messages with The Washington Post, Piker elaborated on his release, saying that when he asked if he would be detained again when traveling abroad, agents gave him a piece of paper to contact the DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program.
The agent “basically said, you know, you can figure out what not to do so that this doesn’t happen again,” Piker told The Post. “And I suspect the what-not-to-do is just don’t be a political commentator that speaks about American foreign policy, which is not something I’m planning on stopping.”
Chip Gibbons, policy director for Defending Rights and Dissent, condemned customs officials for detaining Piker.
“We are deeply disturbed that CBP is stopping political commentators at the border to interrogate them about First Amendment-protected activities. Such an abuse of power is an affront to press freedom,” Gibbons said.
In an email to Truthout, Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), decried the alleged action by CBP officials and the Trump administration.
“If Piker, a U.S. citizen, was detained and questioned solely over his views on the Gaza war, it would mark a troubling escalation of the Trump administration’s efforts to punish dissent on the issue,” Terr said, adding that “the First Amendment squarely protects speech on matters of public debate.”
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