Mem Fox Detained

I can’t even. This is ridiculous.

“Imagine how America would react if Australia was mean to the late Maurice Sendak or even Eric Carle, author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

That’s how the latter feels now, after hearing that beloved children’s book author Mem Fox was left in tears after being detained for hours at Los Angeles Airport and accused of having the wrong visa in early February.”

Mem Fox is the author of one of my GO-TO books for storytime. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. And now she doesn’t want to come back to America. If we’re alienating amazing people like Mem Fox, we have no hope.

“Fox, who claims she had a valid visa, has reportedly received a written apology from the United States embassy in Canberra. The Embassy and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been contacted for comment.

She told the outlet she was aggressively questioned, and suggested President Donald Trump has created an atmosphere in the U.S. that makes such behaviour acceptable. Fox now doubts she’ll ever return.

“I am old and white, innocent and educated, and I speak English fluently,” she added. “Imagine what happened to the others in the room, including an old Iranian woman in her 80s, in a wheelchair.”

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