Do you have time to answer a really short survey for us ?
(5 questions; 35s to answer on average
Yes I'll do it later No
(5 questions; 35s to answer on average
Yes I'll do it later No
Forum - View topicSummer Games Fest 2025 Amidst ICE Raids Left Attendees, Vendors, and Staff On High Alert
|
Goto page 1, 2 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cypher997
Posts: 192 |
|
|||
|
It's right to be disturbed by what's going on nearby, the current administration has been laying the groundwork for months and they've made no bones about what their intent is. For those who paid attention in history class, look at the chain of events that led to a certain failed Austrian art student's rise to power in 1930's Germany. There are some parallels to be drawn from the current administration's actions.
|
||||
|
||||
|
Sinxi and heylog
Posts: 211 |
|
|||
not to get extremely political, but wasn't this all in the project 2025 playbook? |
||||
|
||||
|
Cypher997
Posts: 192 |
|
|||
|
Sadly yes, but people unfortunately did not pay attention during the campaign season of 2024. That's as far as I'm willing to discus it.
|
||||
|
||||
FunkyDude88
 Posts: 131 |
|
|||
|
LA is pretty famous for riots, isn't it?
Maybe companies should stop hosting stuff there. |
||||
|
||||
|
Cypher997
Posts: 192 |
|
|||
They might be looking for alternative venues given the tense situation in the US, especially ones from overseas. Or do a digital 'direct' of sorts so as to not worry about the physical setup for said venue, those were quite popular during the pandemic back in 2020. |
||||
|
||||
|
FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 929 |
|
|||
For reference, the protests are taking place in, like, one county of LA, which is nowhere near where major locations like the convention centers are. It would be like avoiding the entirety of Pennsylvania because of the fire in Centralia. For another, companies host events in California because many of these same companies are based in California. And it's a lot easier to just host your events at the LA Convention Center instead of going literally anywhere else. Sure, you could move the company... at great expense, both economical and labor-wise (the lion's share of your employees will not be able to leave the state with you--and you can't just replace your entire workforce). Also, if ICE is going to keep jumping people from vans, the problem won't go away. So it's not like just going to Texas will solve anything. |
||||
|
||||
|
Cypher997
Posts: 192 |
|
|||
|
Thus why I've suggested going for a 'digital direct' for the event. Don't have to worry about the costs of relocation and labor involved at the venue, downside is a loss of revenue that the venue generates from the event.
|
||||
|
||||
|
TsarPlatinum
Posts: 70 |
|
|||
I just did a brief scan through all these articles you posted and the common theme among all them were tourists violating the terms of or completely lacking proper travel or work visas being rightfully detained. One of the examples was even the Canadian border doing it to one of their own citizens who turned out to have left Canada illegally. Given how strict Japan is with immigration (they are much stricter than America when it comes to this subject) I would presume any Japanese guest going to AnimeExpo or any other convention would know to have everything relating to travelling overseas and to foreign countries in order before doing so. Presumably any professional guest would be done through an actual major company or studio who would handle that process for them. So I don't think they have anything to worry about compared to random civilian tourist who thought it'd be a fun jaunt to cross the border without the proper paperwork then finding out you can't do that. |
||||
|
||||
|
catandmouse
Posts: 256 |
|
|||
|
It’s annoying for sure, and everything is going to hell in a handbasket, but it hasn’t hit 2020 levels of crazy when we had the riots and curfews.
I’m hoping things have settled down by the time AX comes around. It’s going to be a very somber feeling, I think. Same for Comic-con. |
||||
|
||||
mdo7
 Posts: 8241 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
|
|||
Then why would European countries be issuing travel warnings telling people not to go to the US, this has never happened before during Trump's 1st administration nor any presidential administration.
It doesn't matter, even with a valid visa, you can still be detained by ICE for no reason. If a presidential administration is setting up Guantanamo to include jailing and detaining immigrants/nationals from US allies countries like UK, France, Italy, etc... then I have no doubt they could target Japanese and South Korean folks even those with valid visa (meaning they can be detained for no reason), and there's nothing a big company (even Japanese one) can do to bail them out. |
||||
|
||||
AiddonValentine
 Posts: 2975 |
|
|||
Exactly, it's not on people or companies hosting these events at California, it's about the government overstepping its authority and powers. People should not have to worry about some thugs showing up at Home Depot to snatch some people to meet BS quotas and companies shouldn't have to worry about if their employees are going to be targeted. This whole thing is stupid, the jack-booted thugs should turn around and go home. |
||||
|
||||
|
ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 3270 Location: Email for assistance only |
|
|||
|
Please do not engage in fear-mongering around hypothetical situations. Industry professionals have indicated they are not having issues getting visas for convention guests. If they genuinely thought they were in danger, they would not be bringing them stateside for five days for a convention.
Let's be honest here: the ICE raids are largely targeting specific nationality/ethnic groups. There was a recent raid targeting an LA underground night club that arrested Chinese and Taiwanese individuals, but as far as I can find, very few Japanese people have been arrested by ICE. The most recent article I found was about two people involved in the illegal animal trade. I'd also like to point out that AX is not the first convention to have multiple Japanese guests this year. There were guests at Animazement in North Carolina and Anime Boston. |
||||
|
||||
|
mdo7
Posts: 8241 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
|
|||
Even if Japanese people aren't being targeted probably because Japanese immigration to the US is not as high as like many decades ago. But that doesn't mean that a Japanese nationals with a valid visa or green card can still be targeted by ICE. Even if we have industry professionals have no problem getting visa, it doesn't mean that ICE can still detain them for no reason if they set foot in the US. It doesn't help that Interntional/foreign tourism to the US is down ever since Trump was re-elected, not even Canadians will dare go to the US. So I'm not sure what these ICE raids plus the fear amongst Asian-American/AAPI communities over ICE raid will lead to sudden changes amongst Japanese and anime celebrities including industry professional from the anime industry. So it's going to be hard to tell what's the upheaval for the anime industry. |
||||
|
||||
|
ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
Posts: 3270 Location: Email for assistance only |
|
|||
|
The link you posted basically says outright what I was alluding to: “Brown-looking people are perceived as permanent foreigners," Syed said. "As a consequence, they, too, may be wrapped up in a raid, only because they don't look ‘American.'"
Japanese people aren't perceived that way. That doesn't mean they don't experience racism, but it is a reason why they aren't a primary target for ICE. Yes, that's off-topic and I've taken it out of your post. That has nothing to do with ICE in LA, and yes you are still continuing to fear-monger based on concerns that don't have a current basis. Let's return to the actual topic. |
||||
|
||||
|
BadNewsBlues
Posts: 7233 |
|
|||
Or or or maybe people should stop engaging in the behavior that leads to the riots in the first place. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group