international news _ 30th May, 2006
MIA Missing In Action In America
Text by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
Sri Lankan born Brit rapper MIA has been excluded from entering America after US immigration officials reportedly refused her a visa. According to press reports, Mia's sometimes revolutionary lyrics, plus her readiness to talk about her father being a Tamil Tiger prompted the ban, meaning she's now prevented from working with Timbaland in the States.
The outspoken star, who'd previously toured America without incident, slammed US authorities in a blog posted on her hugely popular Myspace page.
"Roger roger do you here me over!!!! the U.S immigration wont let me in!!!!!" she declared, "im locked out! they wont let me in! Now I'm strictly making my album outside the borders!!!!"
"To my people who walk wiv me in the America, don't forget we got the internet! Spread the word! or come get me!!!!!!" she added, "I'll be in my bird flu lab in China!"
Her experiences reflect the extreme difficulties most performers, including DJs, now face in obtaining work visas in the States, with applicants now forced to attend one on one interviews and be finger printed at the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, plus charged $100 for the privilege (and more). Recently, Britain's acclaimed Halle Orchestra was forced to scrap a tour due to Visa costs, and French superstar DJ Laurent Garnier also briefly cancelled a tour last year after becoming frustrated by regulation.
"I consider these (visa) demands to be a complete violation of my privacy and my civil liberties and I refuse to comply," Laurent added. "I am horrified by these new regulations and feel really sad that this is what some call freedom and democracy," (Garnier subsequently got his visa and toured).
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