Streamer and left-wing political commentator Hasan Piker said he was detained and underwent a two-hour interrogation conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents as he was traveling back to the U.S. on Sunday. He said he was asked questions about his opinions on President Donald Trump and his public criticism of Israel.

The 33-year-old is known for his political commentary and left-leaning opinions online. He currently boasts nearly three million followers on Twitch and 1.5 million followers on X. Piker is a Turkish-American citizen born in New Jersey.

Hasan Piker says he was interrogated over his political views

Piker said he was led to a private room upon his arrival from Paris at Chicago O’Hare Airport on Sunday. Piker said in a Twitch live stream that he was interviewed for nearly two hours by border agents about his political views. He described the interview as “cordial,” according to The Guardian. 

During the interview, Piker was asked questions focused on his previous public criticism of Israel.

“Do you like Hamas? Like, do you support Hamas? Do you think Hamas is a resistance group?” he said he was asked.

The commentator replied that he was a “pacifist” and wanted “the endless bloodshed to end.”

“I just kept repeating that over and over again,” Piker said, describing the questioning as a violation of his First Amendment rights.

The commentator said his phone and laptop were not searched and that the interview ended shortly after he asked whether he was being detained or free to go.

“The goal here is to put fear into people’s hearts, to have a chilling effect on speech that, like, the government is unafraid of intimidating you,” Piker said. “Does this stop me from saying whatever the f**k I want to say? Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous. But the reason why I wanted to talk about it was to give you more insight into what the government is doing, and to speak out against this sort of stuff.”

“I think they did it because they know who the f**k I am, and they wanted to put the fear of God into me,” he added.

The U.S. government said Hasan Piker is ‘lying for likes’

“This is nothing but lying for likes,” Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, according to The Guardian. “Claims that his political beliefs triggered the inspection are baseless. Our officers are following the law, not agendas.”

“Upon entering the country, this individual was referred for further inspection – a routine, lawful process that occurs daily, and can apply for any traveler,” she added. “Once his inspection was complete, he was promptly released.”

Others have called out Piker’s interrogation for being a breach of the right to freedom of speech.

“We are deeply disturbed that CBP is stopping political commentators at the border to interrogate them about First Amendment-protected activities,” Chip Gibbons, the policy director of Defending Rights & Dissent, said. “Such an abuse of power is an affront to press freedom.”

Piker’s detention comes as pro-Palestine student protestors were recently detained. The U.S. government has been cracking down on student protestors in support of Palestine. Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk were arrested and detained after playing a role in campus protests criticizing Israel.

The White House previously said it is “committed to the enforcement of our immigration laws and will take swift action to remove aliens who pose serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States,” according to the BBC.