During the Cold War, the U.S. government abused the immigration laws in order to exclude prominent artists and intellectuals. None of these individuals represented any danger to national security. They were excluded simply because the U.S. government wanted to prevent U.S. citizens and residents from meeting with them and hearing their ideas.
(Mouse over the names to learn more.)
1952IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT
PIERRE TRUDEAU (Former Prime Minister of Canada)
GRAHAM GREENE (Novelist)1953JAN MYRDAL (Author)1957YVES MONTAND (Actor, Singer)1950s, 60sNAZIM HIKMET (Turkish Poet)1962GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ (Novelist, Nobel Laureate)
CARLOS FUENTES (Novelist)1966PABLO NERUDA (Poet, Nobel Laureate)1969DORIS LESSING (Novelist)
ERNEST MANDEL (Economist)1971OSCAR NIEMEYER (Architect)1980DARIO FO (Playwright, Nobel Laureate) and FRANCA RAME (Actress)1982GENSUIKYO (Japanese Antinuclear Group) and GYOTSU SATO (Buddhist Monk, Leader of Gensuikyo)
ANGEL RAMA (Scholar)1983NINO PASTI (Former NATO Deputy Supreme Commander, Forrmer Italian Senator)
HORTENSIA BUSSI DE ALLENDE (Widow of Chilean President Salvador Allende)1984MARITZA RUIZ (Leader of El Salvador's Comadres)1985FARLEY MOWAT (Novelist)1986CHOICHIRO YATANI (Professor)
PATRICIA LARA (Journalist)1990JIM HUNTER(Union Leader)2002JOHN CLARKE (Organizer for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty)2003NELSON MANDELA (Former President of South Africa) and TOKYO SEXWALE and SIDNEY MUFAMADI (African National Congress Activists)
CARLOS ALZUGARAY TRETO (Scholar, Former Ambassador to the European Union)2004TARIQ RAMADAN (Scholar, Author)
61 CUBAN SCHOLARS2005DORA MARIA TELLEZ (Scholar, Former Nicaraguan Minister of Health)
FERNANDO RODRIGUEZ (Human Rights Lawyer)
WASKAR ARI (Bolivian Aymara Indian Scholar)2006IÑAKI EGAÑA (Basque historian)
M.I.A. (Sri Lankan-born Hip-Hop Artist)
74 SOUTH KOREAN ACTIVISTS
YOANNIS "JOHN" MILIOS (Greek Marxist Economist)RESOURCES
> Legal Background
> An Evening Without...
- Audio from the Event
- Photos from the Event
> Timeline SourcesPRESS RELEASES
> U.S. Government Increasingly Blocks Entry at Border Because of Ideology (7/12/2006)
> Federal Judge Says Government Must Act on Muslim Scholar’s Visa Request (6/23/2006)
> Actors and Writers Read Works from Luminaries Censored at the Border (4/27/2006)
> Government Backs Away From Claim That Swiss Muslim Scholar Endorsed Terrorism (4/25/2006)
> ACLU Asks Federal Court to Lift Visa Ban on Tariq Ramadan (4/13/2006)
> Patriot Act Exclusion of Swiss Scholar Challenged (1/25/2006)
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