DALE McFEATTERS Homeland Security as literary critic

In tightening up our borders, we seem to be keeping out people we want to come here -- tourists, business travelers, scientists, authors.
One of those is Ian McEwan, a best selling British author and winner of prestigious literary prizes there and here. He is a favorite of Laura Bush and he and the first lady dined together in London during a presidential visit.
U.S. immigration officials in Vancouver barred him from visiting the United States last week because they mistakenly believed he had the wrong kind of visa. Clearly, the Department of Homeland Security needs to start recruiting some English majors to its ranks. McEwan said one of his interrogators asked, "What kind of novels do you write: fiction or nonfiction."
The three West Coast groups who had invited McEwan to speak set up a howl of protest. And after 36 hours and the intervention of the State department, the British government, an immigration lawyer and two members of Congress, McEwan was admitted to the country, grudgingly.
The author said he was told, "We still don't want to let you in, but this is attracting a lot of unfavorable publicity." That certainly rings true.
McEwan made his first lecture with minutes to spare -- he acknowledged Homeland Security's vigilance in "protecting the American public from British novelists" -- and will wind up his tour with a visit to Yosemite.
Gracious
The author was gracious about his experience. He told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "That doesn't make coming to the United States again massively attractive. What I went through was a serious, fantastic wrench for me. But I have many friends in the U.S., and it is a country that I adore, so I don't want to sulk about this."
But McEwan's ordeal is not over, not if he wants to come back. Homeland Security stamped his passport "Refused Admittance," meaning he is no longer entitled to the automatic visa waiver we extend to citizens of the United Kingdom and as long as that "Refused Admittance" is in his passport and Homeland Security's computers he might never get a visa.
Homeland Security appears to be shrugging this off as sort of the breaks of the game, but the department made a mistake and it should fix that mistake so that McEwan can come back whenever he wants.
Spokeswoman Danielle Sheahan said the department is "checking to see if there is anything we can do for him." There is. The next time he shows up at our gates say, "Welcome to the United States, Mr. McEwan. Enjoy your stay." After that, it's OK to ask if his novels are fiction.
Scripps Howard News Service