Hasan Piker, U.S. Citizen, On His Targeted Detention By CBP

Popular American streamer tells us about how he endured two hours of questioning regarding his opinions on Israel and Trump.

By Stavroula Pabst, Responsible Statecraft

Early this week, popular Twitch streamer and YouTube podcaster Hasan Piker was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents for two hours at Chicago O’ Hare International Airport. There, he said he was questioned about his work and on his political views, especially those related to Israel’s war in Gaza and foreign policy.

Piker, who is an American citizen and was returning home from a family trip to France, spoke with RS about his experience being detained, First Amendment rights, and U.S. foreign policy in the Trump era. He said he was not arrested, but was clearly singled out for his interviews and online commentary. He told RS that he thinks the feds are likely worried about blowback and “bad branding” now that this case has gotten widespread attention and is generally seen as an attempt to put a chill on Constitutionally protected speech challenging the administration’s policies.

In a X post this week, the Department of Homeland Security suggested Piker was “lying for likes.”

“Our officers are following the law, not agendas,” posted DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, adding that Piker was “promptly released” after a “routine” inspection.

Stavroula Pabst: Now that you’ve had some time to reflect on the experience [of being detained], and maybe you’ve been able to speak with other journalists and lawyers about it…do you have anything more to say about the situation than what your initial reaction to it was. Has maybe your analysis of the episode changed at all over the last few days?

Hasan Piker: Not necessarily. I guess the only thing that was really interesting was the Department of Homeland Security’s spokesperson’s response to it all, which was to claim that this was like ‘lying for likes,’ and that it was a routine part of the process, a routine investigation that was, was not conducted on the basis, or was not started on the basis, of like political dissidents. And that they released me after, you know, asking these questions. I find that interesting, because, on the one hand, I think that they’re still lying. I don’t think that they’re being truthful when they say it’s not targeting due to political opinions.

But I think it’s also interesting that they are worried about that being branded with the, that being associated with the administration. Like they’re worried that could be an angle of attack, or an angle of criticism that could galvanize a lot of people against the administration.