A colleague of mine was arrested

yesterday. He was making his way to the hospital he works in when he was pulled over by the police. 

T... had done nothing wrong. That made no difference. He looks as if he might be Mexican-American and that was apparently enough. 

I do not know all the details but the incident took several hours to sort out. There was no apology from the arresting officers. They were "just doing (their) job". T... was very late in for work with flow on consequences for many other people. 

The reason I heard about it is because he was due to attend a conference next week but is now worried about leaving the country. T... is an American citizen by birth. His parents and grandparents and probably many times great-grandparents were American citizens. 

The colleague who told me this was alarmed. T... left me and others a brief message late in the day, "Am OK but need time to consider as advised might be best not to go."

What on earth is going on in a country which was supposed to be "the land of the free"? How has it come to this? 

I had, in a quite serious way, considered doing a "round world" trip when I began thinking about a journey back to my second home - London. It was not because I have any particular desire to see America as a country - although I think their national parks would be spectacular. No, I was thinking how good it would be to see friends who would be unable to travel here. While it would be difficult enough for me it would be impossible for them to go far.

Now it seems that even some of those with the physical and financial capacity are worried about leaving. Several projects I have been peripherally involved in have had to be dropped recently. Those involved are not Greta Thunberg type activists. They are just people who were being asked to volunteer help using their professional skills. 

And I have now had four warnings not to come. Our official government travel warning page is also anything but reassuring. I will not be going. It may be that I would be safe but if T... can get pulled over on his way to work....  I just hope everything calms down and my friends and colleagues are safe.