> Like, have you every flown somewhere to attend a conference and a meeting? Same thing.

I flew to an expo where our company had a booth and the US border patrol took me aside and started asking if I'd be selling things there or working at the booth in some other form. I told them that I am a tech going to see other companies' stuff. They then discussed something between themselves for 10 minutes and let me pass. This was 20 years ago, so them being picky is certainly not a new thing.

When there were custom forms everyone had to fill out, as I recall, one of the questions was whether you had samples or goods for sale (or something like that). Priorities have probably shifted but direct commercial activities probably remain a concern even in countries that generally have no issue with you attending a conference or meeting with customers.

The fact that something normal, we need to happen as a country, is ambiguous and sparks a 10 minute discussion is the big red flag. Immigration and business visits need to be clear and quick. We need naive immigration reform.