The French foreign ministry said its consulate had been informed of the incident, adding that it “deplored the situation”. However, the ministry said the United States had the “sovereign” right to decide who could enter or remain on its territory.
In a statement issued on Wednesday and sent to the AFP news agency, France’s Minister of Higher Education and Research Philippe Baptiste said he had “learned with concern” that a space researcher working for the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) was stopped for a random check at an unspecified US airport and expelled due to critical text messages about US President Donald Trump.
“This measure was apparently taken by the American authorities because the researcher’s phone contained exchanges with colleagues and friends in which he expressed a personal opinion on the Trump administration’s research policy,” the minister said.
The researcher was reportedly en route for a conference in Houston when the incident took place on March 9.
According to an unnamed source cited by AFP, US authorities labelled the messages as “hatred against Trump” that “could be qualified as terrorism”.
An FBI investigation was also reportedly launched into the matter, but the charges were dropped before the researcher was put on a plane home to France.
The US government maintains that border agents are allowed to examine electronic devices as part of a random security check. Rights groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the US government over these warrantless searches in 2017, arguing they were “unconstitutional”. The ACLU won the case in federal court but it was overturned on appeal, prompting the group to ask the Supreme Court to hear the case.
‘Welcome to France’
Baptiste said the incident was an affront to liberal values.
“Freedom of opinion, free research, and academic freedom are values that we will continue to proudly uphold, he said, adding: “I will defend the right of all French researchers to be faithful to them in accordance with the law.”
Since Trump took office in January, Baptiste has been vocal in his critique against the administration’s huge cuts in funding for the scientific community, leading to the dismissal of hundreds of federal workers working on health and climate change issues.
Aside from the cuts – overseen by close Trump adviser and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk – the US president has also withdrawn the US from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris climate agreement.
Trump’s appointment of vaccine sceptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is not a doctor, as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services has also angered many scientists.
Earlier this month, Baptiste sent a letter to French research institutions, urging them to take in American scientists who were looking to leave the United States in light of Trump’s budget cuts.
“Many well-known researchers are already questioning their future in the United States,” the minister of research wrote, saying that France “would, naturally, wish to welcome a certain number of them”.
He also asked the institutions to send him “concrete proposals on the topic, both on priority technologies and scientific fields”.
The French government, he said, was “committed” to the effort, and “will rise to the occasion”.
Aix-Marseille University in southern France has already heeded these calls by setting up a special programme dedicated to welcoming US researchers working on climate change.
In announcing the programme, it said the invitation was directed at researchers who “may feel threatened or hindered” in the United States and want to “continue their work in an environment conducive to innovation, excellence and academic freedom”.
A day after the French researcher was reportedly expelled from the United States, Baptiste posted a photograph on X, showing a virtual meeting with an American researcher who, along with “several dozens” of others, had decided to take the university up on its offer.
“We need to continue to propose new solutions to welcome the researchers who need or want to leave the United States in the near future,” the minister wrote.
Last week, he also appeared on French news channel France Info, slamming the Trump administration’s cuts to critical sciences like health, climate change, renewable energy and AI.
“Research is being chain-sawed in the United States!” said Baptiste.
“This is not only a serious blow for American research, it’s a serious blow to global research in which the United States up until now has played a pivotal role.”
He also took aim at Musk for his involvement in haphazardly dismantling the US research community, questioning why the tech billionaire was making decisions about the future of the ISS when he runs a parallel – and possibly competing – space exploration firm.
“I heard Elon Musk saying that the International Space Station needs to be shut down in 2027,” Baptiste said, going on to question Musk’s role.
Is Musk the head of SpaceX or the head of America’s public administration, Baptiste asked, adding: “None of this makes any sense.”
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