logo
Anti-Trump Streamer Hasan Piker Was Detained by CBP at Airport: 'Insane'

Anti-Trump Streamer Hasan Piker Was Detained by CBP at Airport: 'Insane'

Newsweek12-05-2025
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Hasan Piker, among the most influential voices in progressive politics, said over the weekend that he was detained and questioned by immigration officials at Chicago's O'Hare airport.
Newsweek reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for comment via email on Monday.
The Context
Piker's detention came amid the Trump administration's harsh crackdown on immigration and border security, which has included detaining and questioning American citizens, permanent residents and those who are otherwise legally permitted to be in the U.S.
Hasan Piker detailed being questioned by immigration officials in a livestream that was posted to YouTube on Monday.
Hasan Piker detailed being questioned by immigration officials in a livestream that was posted to YouTube on Monday.
Screenshot via YouTube
What To Know
Piker, who hosts popular streaming shows on Twitch and YouTube, detailed his detention on Monday, saying CBP officials questioned him in Chicago about his views on President Donald Trump, the U.S.-Israel relationship, Hamas and a slew of other political issues.
"They straight up tried to get something out of me that I think they could use to basically detain me permanently," Piker said on his livestream, a video of which was posted on YouTube.
He added that the agent who questioned him "kept saying stuff like, 'do you like Hamas? Do you support Hamas? Do you think Hamas is a terror group or a resistance group?'"
The progressive streamer has long criticized the Israeli government over its military action in the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, accusing Israel of carrying out a "genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza.
Piker first announced his detention in an X post on Sunday, writing: "[I] got stopped by cbp at global entry for additional questioning. i'm out it wasn't that bad. very strange experience overall though."
Piker said on his livestream that he was "instantly" told to "step aside" for additional questioning while going through a Global Entry checkpoint after flying into Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from France.
"'Here we f------ go,'" Piker recounted thinking, adding that he immediately texted his family members and manager when he was on his way in for more questioning.
The progressive streamer, who is a U.S. citizen and passport-holder, said he was eventually taken to a separate room for questioning, adding that the experience was "an insane f------ situation."
"It's very obvious that they knew exactly who the f--- I was, it's very obvious that they knew exactly how to navigate the conversation," Piker said. He went on to say he believes the agent who questioned him was "very cordial" because "they wanted me to say something that was incriminating and say something that was enough to justify further detention from that point on."
"And let me tell you: they certainly did do that ... He was basically, like, broaching the conversation in a way where it was, like, free-flowing, where in the process of discovery, he was adding on additional talking points," Piker said.
The left-wing influencer said that the agent asked him what he does for a living, what topics he discusses on his livestreams, what he thinks about "the war" and whether he discusses Trump.
Piker said the stream of questions prompted him to respond, "Why are you asking me this? What does this have to do with anything?"
"None of these questions are actually valid questions to ask," Piker said to his livestream audience. "But I was entertaining it because ... I didn't want to present it as being difficult because I didn't want to extend the detention, and two, I actually wanted to see how far I could take it."
He said that on certain questions, he was "very revealing" about his political views, telling the CBP agent: "I don't like Trump ... I'm not fond of him. I don't like him. He said he was going to end the war. He hasn't ended the wars. What the f--- is up with that?"
Piker went on to characterize the agent as being "sympathetic" to his views but said he believes immigration officials wanted to assess if he had any involvement with groups like Hamas, Hezbollah or the Houthis.
When asked how he felt about Hamas, Piker said that he "kept repeating the same statement over and over again. I kept saying: 'I'm on the side of civilians. I want the endless bloodshed to end. I am a pacifist. I want wars to end.'"
This story is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump ordered purge of ‘unpatriotic' signage from national parks. How one California spot complied
Trump ordered purge of ‘unpatriotic' signage from national parks. How one California spot complied

Los Angeles Times

time4 minutes ago

  • Los Angeles Times

Trump ordered purge of ‘unpatriotic' signage from national parks. How one California spot complied

Four years ago, National Park Service employees seeking to provide a more robust look at the history of Muir Woods National Monument in Marin County began the 'History Under Construction' exhibit. The concept of the work was to expand an existing sign featuring a timeline detailing the preservation of Muir Woods. Employees placed caution tape on the sign within Founder's Grove and used yellow sticky notes to add facts and dates that were missing from the original timeline. Among the information added were the efforts of Indigenous people who originally maintained the land, as well as the role of women in creating the national monument. A letter on the plaque assured passersby that 'everything on this sign is accurate, but incomplete. The facts are not under construction, but the way we tell history is.' But, as of this month, the yellow notes are no more. The expanded exhibit became the first in the nation to be altered following an executive order by President Trump in March to rid park signage of any language he would deem unpatriotic. The president's aim was to restore federal sites that he said had been changed since 2020 to perpetuate a 'false reconstruction of American history' including 'improper partisan ideology.' The Muir Woods change was first reported by SF Gate. Elizabeth Villano, a former park ranger who helped create the new version of the sign, criticized the move, writing in a post on Medium that the Trump administration 'is actively censoring American history from the public.' She said the goal of the project was to make sure nothing on the original sign was erased, but to add details so people could see the difference in how history was told and how it could be expanded to include more voices. 'We wanted to tell the true story of the woods in a way that helped people learn from the past, and apply those lessons towards a brighter future,' she wrote. 'Despite this care not to erase history, here I am, watching history be erased.' A spokesperson for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which includes Muir Woods, could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday. Before the notes were added in 2021, the first date included in the sign's timeline, called 'Path to Preservation,' was the establishment of the first national park in the United States, Yellowstone, in 1872. The next was 1892 when the Sierra Club was founded in San Francisco with John Muir as the first president. But staff at the time found that some key information was missing from the timeline, namely the work of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people who tended to the land before Europeans arrived in North America. They also included the first campaign to save the region launched by a women's club in 1904. Of course, not all the information added to the timeline was positive. Staff detailed Spanish missionaries exploiting the work of Indigenous people in the Bay Area to build California missions and congressional actions stripping Coast Miwok people of title to their ancestral lands, including Muir Woods. The revised timeline didn't shy away from pointing out the complex legacies of key figures who helped spearhead the creation of the national monument. It noted that John Muir referred to Indigenous people using racist language in his diary, which was published years before his death, and pointed out William Kent's vote in Congress to prevent non-citizens from owning or leasing land. The rangers didn't cast blame for the omissions, saying that the expanded narratives were reflective of increasing diversity among park service employees in the years since the timeline was first unveiled. 'From redwood conservation to the legacy of the country's founders, American stories are enriched by complexity, dimension, and challenge. It's not our job to judge these stories or promote a singular narrative. As national park rangers, it is our mandate to tell complete stories that reflect who we are as a society. And as Americans, it's important that we hear them,' according to a National Park Service post about the changes. Trump's executive order directed the Department of the Interior to identify any public monuments, memorials, statues or markers that had been removed or changed since 2020 to 'perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history,' minimize the value of historical events or figures or include 'improper partisan ideology' and to reinstate prior monuments. The order also directed officials to ensure that monuments do not contain content that disparages Americans. Instead, the monuments should focus on 'the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape,' the order states. Critics have said Trump's directive demands a rose-colored view of more complex events that make up American history. Villano, the former park ranger, wrote in the Medium essay that it's disparaging to Americans to take away people's ability to think critically and have a better understanding of history. 'Why doesn't the White House want you to see a more complete version of history? Maybe it's because, when we see ourselves in history, we realize that we can reshape it,' she wrote. 'For a government like this, that must feel like a threat. It doesn't benefit people in power to understand that anyone can be a part of history.'

Columbia must make good on its promises and quash antisemitism
Columbia must make good on its promises and quash antisemitism

New York Post

time4 minutes ago

  • New York Post

Columbia must make good on its promises and quash antisemitism

What do you know? The White House has managed to get Columbia University to 'fess up to its sorry record of antisemitism, pay a considerable fine and agree to fresh steps to set it on the right path. That's enormously encouraging — not least because it'll put pressure on other schools that have been resisting changes, like Harvard, to fall in line. President Donald Trump and his team worked hard to reach a deal and deserve great credit. They put the screws to the elite school, cutting off hundreds of millions of dollars in grant support until it agreed to reforms. Advertisement Now Columbia will pay a whopping $200 million to settle discrimination claims and another $20 million specifically to address antisemitism on campus. It also promised to stop racial discrimination in hiring and admissions. Plus, the school has agreed to vet international students more closely and share its data with the feds. That means it won't let in more terror-aligned foreign 'students' like Mahmoud Khalil whose real purpose is to sow chaos on American campuses. Advertisement And just a day earlier, Columbia meted out heavy punishments against more than 70 students for their antisemitic antics, suspending some and expelling others. These are all huge wins. Recall that the school had allowed a mob, including 'community activists' with no university affiliation, to occupy its main square with tents for weeks on end. This rabble harassed Jewish students and faculty, physically blocking their passage around the campus and into university buildings. Jewish students were shoved and bullied. Advertisement The deans did nothing as protestors invaded buildings, chanted antisemitic slogans and destroyed property. Indeed, Columbia abetted a climate of terror. Students wearing keffiyehs as masks disrupted a class on Israeli history taught by an Israeli professor and distributed incendiary fliers reading, 'Burn Zionism to the Ground.' This wasn't just a matter of leniency and laziness on the part of university officials. It was intentional. Advertisement Tenured faculty and top administrators expressed open support for the mayhem, and some were caught mocking Jewish students speaking up about the fear and intimidation they were suffering. Katrina Armstrong, the former interim president, told faculty members in private that she had no intention of making good on her promises to the administration to ban masked protests or reform admissions procedures. This lying and hypocrisy captures the elitist scorn of top Columbia faculty. Tenured radicals turned a blessed institution of culture and science into a pit of rancor and violence in the name of eliminating the Jewish state. Some of that may be about to change — though don't expect all the fixes to come overnight. Notably, Columbia has given in on all the points Harvard is fighting in court, and gotten its grant money restored. Let's hope that resonates with Harvard and nudges it, and other antisemitic schools, to straighten out, once and for all.

Trump derides copyright and state rules in AI Action Plan launch
Trump derides copyright and state rules in AI Action Plan launch

Politico

time5 minutes ago

  • Politico

Trump derides copyright and state rules in AI Action Plan launch

Trump's comments were a riff as his 28-page AI Action Plan did not wade into copyright and administration officials told reporters the issue should be left to the courts to decide. Trump also signed three executive orders. One will fast track federal permitting, streamline reviews and 'do everything possible to expedite construction of all major AI infrastructure projects,' Trump said. Another expands American exports of AI hardware and software. A third order bans the federal government from procuring AI technology 'that has been infused with partisan bias or ideological agendas,' as Trump put it. Luminaries of the AI industry attended Trump's speech, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su and Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar. Trump echoed tech companies' complaints about state AI laws creating a patchwork of regulation. 'You can't have one state holding you up,' he said. 'We need one common sense federal standard that supersedes all states, supersedes everybody.' His Action Plan includes directions to the Office of Management and Budget to limit AI-related funding to states with regulation that might hinder the funding's 'effectiveness.' It also directs the Federal Communications Commission to check whether state AI regulations interfere with the agency's ability to carry out its duties under the Communications Act of 1934. Civil rights advocates and tech critics raised alarms over the plan's approach to federal permitting and oversight rollbacks, and its close alignment with the tech industry.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store