'Do you like Hamas?' Political commentator Hasan Piker says he was stopped at airport
Popular online political commentator Hasan Piker was stopped and questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Chicago as he was returning to the United States from France, Piker said on his Twitch broadcast on Monday.
A U.S. citizen born in New Jersey, Piker has 2.8 million followers on Twitch and is a prominent leftist political commentator. On Monday, he said he was taken to a private room inside Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Sunday.
He said he was questioned about his political views and his political commentary on his social media accounts. Piker said that he was stopped for questioning despite being enrolled in the government's Global Entry program, which normally expedites re-entry to the United States.
"They straight up tried to get something out of me that I think they could use to basically detain me permanently,” Piker said. "(The agent) kept saying stuff like, 'Do you like Hamas? Do you support Hamas? Do you think Hamas is a terror group or a resistance group?'”
Piker described the interaction with the agents as “cordial,” and said he was asked about his views on President Donald Trump and whether he had been in contact with Hamas, Hezbollah or the Houthis.
“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 others that would be in my shoes that don't have that same level of security to shut the (expletive) up,” Piker said on the stream. “I’m gonna use the privilege that I have in that moment to try and see what the (expletive) they’re doing.”
Piker was returning to the United States to speak at the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago on Monday. He had been in France over the weekend, where he interviewed French politician Jean-Luc Melenchon.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told Paste BN on Monday that Piker's detention was "routine."
"Claims that his political belief triggered the inspection are baseless," said the spokesperson, who declined to be named. "Our officers are following the law, not agendas. Upon entering the country, this individual was referred for further inspection - a routine, lawful process that occurs daily, and can apply for any traveler. Once his inspection was complete, he was promptly released."
Detention comes during tense time
Piker’s detention comes as activists and university students across the U.S. have been detained by federal agents in recent weeks.
Columbia University graduate student and Palestinian refugee Mahmoud Khalil was detained by federal agents in March he helped lead pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University. He was accused of engaging in activities aligned with Hamas.
Later that month, Tufts University international graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk was detained by federal agents after she co-wrote a pro-Palestinian opinion piece. She was released last week on bail after a federal judge in Vermont said the government did not have sufficient evidence to hold Ozturk indefinitely.
Another Columbia University student, Mohsen Mahdawi, was detained on April 14 while he was arriving for a naturalization interview and held in a detention center in Vermont. He was also freed earlier this month following a federal judge's ruling in Vermont.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for Paste BN. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.