KATE EMERY: Why Donald Trump’s US is on my no-fly list and should be on yours, too

Thinking about a trip to New York to see the Statue of Liberty?

Have you considered visiting France’s smaller replica on Île aux Cygnes, an artificial island in the Seine, instead?

Pondering a trip to Disney World in Florida?

Can I interest you in swapping that for a trip to Disneyland Paris?

For one thing, Disneyland Paris has something called Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain. For another, French immigration officials are less likely to go through your phone, call you a “retard” and lock you up without access to a lawyer.

That is how thoroughly US President Donald Trump has trashed his country’s appeal as a tourism location: he has made the French seem like a warm and welcoming people.

Perhaps you have heard some of the stories about Australian travellers being detained or deported while travelling in the US since Mr Trump’s election. If not, hold onto your jaw.

There’s the Australian man who has been living in the US on a working visa for years.

Having returned to Australia to scatter his sister’s ashes he says he was detained when trying to re-enter the US, accused of selling drugs and owning multiple phones — which he denied — called “retarded” when he didn’t hear a question and refused access to a lawyer.

Ultimately, his visa was cancelled and he was deported, leaving his apartment, belongings and partner behind in America.

The man told media an immigration official said: “Trump is back in town; we’re doing things the way we should have always been doing them”.

Then there’s the Australian man who flew to the US to join a cruise, only to be detained in New York after an official questioned why he had taken such a circuitous route to get there. His answer — it was the cheapest option — failed to pass muster and he was sent home, $15,000 out of pocket after the cruise company declined to refund his ticket.

And how about Renato Subotic, head coach of the Australian mixed martial arts team, who was handcuffed, strip-searched and taken to jail for 24 hours after US immigration officials spotted a “mistake” on his visa.

“No clear explanation, no chance to talk to anyone, no rights,” he wrote of his ordeal on social media.

It’s not just Australians.

There’s the British woman backpacking around the US who was detained for 19 days in an immigration detention centre over confusion about whether she should be travelling on a working or tourist visa.

The German national — a US resident who has lived there since he was a teenager — was arrested returning home from a trip to Europe and sent to a detention facility for more than a month for reasons his family believes relate to old misdemeanor charges that were dealt with in court years ago.

The Canadian tourist detained in a “tiny freezing cell” with five other women for two weeks after being told her work visa hadn’t been properly processed, despite offering to book her own flight home to sort it out.

The French researcher turned away at the border after they found messages on his phone that were critical of the Trump administration.

These are just the cases we have heard about: the people who went public, those whose stories journalists found verifiable enough to print, the ones who made it out to talk about it at all.

The Australian Government’s Smartraveller website advice for travellers heading to the US, which was updated this week, warns that US authorities “actively pursue, detain and deport” people in the country illegally or who breach the conditions of their entry.

It advises: “US authorities have broad powers to decide if you’re eligible to enter and may determine that you are inadmissible for any reason under US law”.

Some European countries have also flagged concerns for transgender and non-binary travellers because of the Trump administration’s attack on transgender rights.

The perception that US immigration has become significantly more aggressive towards visitors has seen a 10 per cent drop in global travel to North America, according to the International Trade Administration (which only covers arrivals by plane).

For Australians the figure is closer to 7 per cent, which is still the biggest drop in visitors to the US since the height of the pandemic.

I am one of them, having scrapped plans for a family trip to New York later this year.

As a straight, white, cis Australian woman who is obsessive about paperwork, I’d probably be fine.

Still, I have written a number of newspaper articles critical of the Trump administration — including this one. And I’d look terrible in an orange jumpsuit.

Even the slimmest chance that my husband, kids and I might find ourselves in a small room without a lawyer at some point means we’ll be heading elsewhere.

I’m hearing good things about Disneyland Paris.

Sure, the Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain — some kind of high-speed roller coaster that appears to takes place almost exclusively in near total darkness, so far as I can tell — looks absolutely terrifying.

Just not quite as scary as US immigration right now.