Written by Staff Writer at CNN
A record 6 million travelers arrived in the United States last month, as major US destinations such as New York, Orlando and Las Vegas welcomed record-high numbers of American tourists.
But many are still not feeling welcome. About one in three people who travel abroad experience some kind of racial, ethnic or cultural bias that prevents them from feeling welcome, a survey from the Pew Research Center found.
Some Americans blamed Trump policies for causing their feelings of unease, including the “zero tolerance” border security policy and President Donald Trump’s travel ban, which allowed him to claim he had stopped terrorists and illegal immigrants from coming to the US.
“Nowhere in the world is that more true than at the border or in the detention centers … where almost every day you see stories about both undocumented and legally documented immigrants getting in a tizzy about… how to act as though they are legal residents of the US,” said CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, speaking of the DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — program on her weekend show, Amanpour, on Sunday.
According to the Pew report, about a quarter of the survey respondents — about nine in 10 in the case of respondents in the United States — said they have felt harassed.
Americans also are more likely to report some kind of racial bias, making them more likely to be concerned about racial issues than foreign travelers.
“One reason is that … there is a real anxiety and concern about the status of race and minorities, including those who are undocumented and who are being detained or separated from their children,” Pew researcher Pia Pialorsi told Piers Morgan during an appearance on his show, Piers Morgan Live, on Monday.
“Some of the views that Americans have about the debate around immigration — and there’s been a lot of attention on it — a lot of Americans feel less safe,” said Pew researcher Pia Pialorsi. “We asked respondents how often they worry, to a great degree, about how they’re treated when they travel abroad.”
The study was based on interviews with some 1,547 adults between September 25 and October 25. The number of respondents for the study is relatively small compared to other recent surveys.
Another study published last month found that a third of Americans said they were afraid to leave their homes. Nearly a quarter of US adults — 22% — said they were very afraid to leave their home and nearly half of US adults — 47% — said they were very afraid of being the victim of crime, said a press release from the RAND Corp.