Australian treasure Mem Fox was detained by US immigration on her latest visit to Los Angeles earlier this month.
The 70-year-old author has been to the US 116 times, which is a feat in itself, but she told The Project that the US has changed since Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration.
“Oh good God it’s changed,” she said. “Oh my God it’s changed, I tell you these people have been given turbo charged power.”
The author of Possum Magic was there to accept a literary award, but was wrongly accused of having the wrong visa and then taken out to a holding room to be interrogated.
“They made me feel like such a crushed, mashed, hopeless old lady and I am a feisty, strong, articulated English speaker,” she told The Guardian.
“I kept thinking that if this were happening to me, a person who is white, articulate, educated and fluent in English, what on earth is happening to people who don’t have my power?”
In fact there was an elderly Iranian woman there who Fox said was “shouted at at full volume” when she didn’t understand what they were asking.
Fox was travelling to America with her new book, I Am Australian Too, which promotes immigration and welcoming strangers.
The irony doesn’t stop there, with the conference she was attending in Milwaukee having a similar theme of diversity, humanity and inclusivity.
The American embassy apologised to Fox for the misunderstanding on her return to Australia, and Fox said although, “In that moment I loathed America. I loathed the entire country…I got over that hatred within a day or two.”
“But this is not the way to win friends, to do this to someone who is Australian when we have supported them in every damn war. It’s absolutely outrageous.”
