Originally Posted by Sabai

As Japan was the second nation to be approved for the Visa Waiver Program (after the UK) in 1988, what are these turn-backs that you refer to?

Originally Posted by New York Times

''Monstrous'' is the word used by Portland's mayor, Vera Katz. The executive director of the Port of Portland says the city's reputation has been tarred by ''Gestapo-type actions.'' A state senator here says the conduct in question is ''racist and xenophobic.'' And United States Senator Gordon H. Smith, a Republican, put it this way today, ''We don't want Portland to be known as ''Deportland.''

All four are talking about the conduct of the local branch of the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service. The furor has been fanned by the recent strip-search and two-night jailing of a Chinese businesswoman who had landed here on her way to New York. But public officials were already concerned that immigration agents were detaining or deporting foreign travelers at a much higher rate than at other West Coast airports.

For Portland, which labored mightily to persuade Delta Air Lines to establish a minihub here with nonstop flights to Asia, the controversy over the immigration office has been a blow to the city's image abroad. The South China Morning Post reported recently that the city was already known as ''Deportland'' in some Asian countries, and the Kyodo News Service of Japan has also reported on the problems, prompting some Japanese travel agencies to advise their customers to avoid flying through Portland if possible.

Delta has already scaled back its cross-Pacific flights to Portland to two a day, both from Japan, having once had four daily nonstops, including flights from Seoul, South Korea, and Taipei, Taiwan.