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HasanAbi, the popular Turkish-American Twitch streamer with 2.8 million followers—real name Hasan Piker—was held and interrogated for nearly two hours by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at Chicago O’Hare International Airport upon re-entering the country.
Piker revealed that during the questioning, he was asked politically charged questions such as: “Do you like Hamas? Do you support Hamas? Do you consider Hamas a resistance group?”
He described the experience as a violation of his First Amendment rights, calling the interrogation an attempt to instill fear and suppress freedom of expression.
“Does this stop me from speaking out? Of course not,” he said, emphasizing his intent to highlight and criticize such practices publicly.
Piker, known for his left-leaning political commentary and criticism of both the U.S. and Israeli governments, said agents also pressed him on his views regarding U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
Identifying himself as a pacifist, he stated that he responded by reaffirming his opposition to violence and calling for an end to “endless bloodshed.”
HasanAbi has consistently backed his principles with action. In October 2023, amid Israel’s military assaults on Gaza, Piker and his Twitch community raised more than $1 million in humanitarian aid for Palestinian children and refugees within four days, with $75,000 of that amount personally donated by Piker. Fans raised $180,000 in the first 40 minutes and surpassed $1 million as of Oct. 18, 2023, afternoon.
To put that into perspective, on October 18, 2023, the U.S. government announced $100 million in humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. HasanAbi’s campaign alone raised approximately 1% of the entire U.S. government's pledge, all in just four days, and entirely through grassroots support on Twitch.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Tricia McLaughlin, denied that Piker was targeted because of his political beliefs. In a statement, McLaughlin said the streamer underwent a routine screening process and was released shortly after.
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