Welshman denied entry by USA government - do Welsh Americans protest?

[Trefor Williams]

How wonderfull it is that Wales is the represented nation at the Smithsonian Institute this year. What a shame that the USA government refused entry to Arfon Gwilym, one of Wales' leading folk artists, because he took the bother to be involved in civil disobedience in the 1970s. BEcause of this, he is not an acceptable guest in the USA.
I was always under the impression that the USA understood civil disobedience - after all we sent the English packing. Maybe President Obama will respond more positvely to a letter sent to him by Arfon outlining his dissapoinment at the ruling. I am confident President Obama will understand that he would not be where he is today if it were not for civil disobedience.
Furthermore, Arfon was a represesentative of the Welsh government. Is it a wonder the USA has trouble with countries around the world. Cymru is a friendly country!
Isn't it ironic that the steps that Arfon took, as did many others, and as many continue to do today, means that Wales has a culture to celebrate which is vibrant and contemporary, and not just an illusion of the past - a dead culture. Arfon would have brought all this to the Smithsonian - what a loss.
What do you think fellow Welsh Americans?

[Alisa Cohen]

What this sounds like to me is a decision by a clerk somewhere, that the State Department now won't admit might have been made in error. It comes from a number of things - that the regs don't distinguish between non-violent and violent protests, that they are still laboring under Bush Administration idiocies because there just hasn't been time to fix it all and that's been a lower priority, that there's no time limit, so that something done 30 or more years ago can still be used in this fashion, and so on.

I understand entirely how it happened. It might be worth a letter to Hillary Clinton, as well as President Obama. If no one brings the injustice of present regulations or their application to her attention, she won't know its there. We speak of government as if it's a single entity that communicates clearly internally, but it isn't; it's more like a millipede where no individual leg knows what any other leg is doing.

All of which is a long way of saying that it was wrong, it was unjust, and it was simply bad application of law. I don't know if it can be corrected, even. A friend who practices immigration law says of it that because you can frame a reasonable solution doesn't mean the law to allow for it exists, and that immigration law is about as counter-intuitive as you can get. From what I have seen, he's right. Hopefully someone will see a way clear to allow Arfon to visit the U.S., not only for this, but to share what he has to offer in the future.

[Gareth Williams]

At least he wasn't sent back because he could speak Cymraeg.
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Fundraiser buys Patagonia tickets

[Catherine Davies Pethoud]

This is about as ridiculous and wrong as many other rulings. We let in terrorists and not a patriot who was fighting for the rights to speak Welsh in Wales and have it taught in Wales? That was a ridiculous and wrong decision of the English in 1981 and now the USA punishes him for standing up for his rights? The USA is supposedly a country who upholds the rights of the people. Is that not why our servicemen are in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries?? This does NOT make sense to me. But then not much makes sense in the USA today.

My paternal grandparents came to the USA in 1895 and spoke Welsh here, but spoke English in public unless they were speaking to another Welshman. No one protested and the USA grew. What has gone wrong? Do we have a bunch of idiots in DC? I can ask this today, but who knows for how long? I am a 79 year old born and bred in the USA and I protest the USA government's treatment of Afron Gwilym.

Catherine Davies Pethoud

[Kerry O'Donoghue]

Don't all shout at once, but I can see the reason for the decision because I work in this field.

The actions that lead to the decision may have been linked to Meibion Glyndwr, in a lot of US three letter agencies there is a fear of more terrorist attacks. The IRA have started up again in Ireland and are fundraising and buying arms , Republican Sinn Fein has a lot of active US support, there is bound to be a fear that because the IRA have joined with the South American drugs cartels who have in turn joined with the Islamic Extremists, Welsh Nationalists could start an upsurge in support stirred on by Irish Republicans and Scottish nationalists and given some statements made by Gadaffi and others because Islamic Extremists sell a nationalist/socialist political model, “we will give you social justice if you follow us” which is so appealing to those in South America, there is understandable concern that the same socio-political bonding could happen with Welsh and Scottish Nationalists. Certain US Agencies will be concerned that the US will become a recruiting and funding ground for nationalists in the UK.

9/11 showed the US what terrorism is really like on your doorstep which lead to a fall in open support for the IRA which many Irish Americans did without really understanding the consequences of, the Administration I expect doesn’t want to get caught again so anyone who has or is openly nationalistic will be looked at with suspicion, valid or not.

[George McKay]

I am not familair with Mr. Gwilym or his case. I guess before offering an opinion I would have to know what the "civil disobedience" happened to be. A "sit in" , march, or other nonviolent form of protest would certainly less serious. However, there have been other forms such as bombings, violent protests, etc where people have been killed and injured.

[Evan Owen]

Does anyone know anything about the Welsh connections of Glyn Davies of the US State Department? He used to be Deputy Assistant Secretary for European Affairs. Somebody with such an obviously Welsh name would be likely be a friend in political matters.

http://www.state.gov/p/eap/rls/ot/2009/115216.htm

[Mark St.John Williams]

I participated in civil disobedience while a US permanent resident in the 1980's. I did a sit-in in protest of US policy in Central America and was arrested and found guilty of trespassing and obstruction of a federal building. The immigration officer who did my interview for citizenship many years later told me the USA needed more people like me. I believe he had done similar stuff in the 60's. I was accepted as a citizen and occasionally speak out but no more sit-ins (yet!).