Type.

Anyhow, he was flying through AUH (Abu Dhabi) recently where you “pre-clear” into the US before departure. There are other such facilities in Canada, Ireland, and a few Caribbean countries as well — airports with lots of US bound traffic. In these instances, you land the same as a domestic flight and just walk out of the airport.

He was chatting with the gate agent about the increase in brawls at American airports post-Covid. Turns out the area beyond US preclearance is technically US soil in the same way the embassy is US soil in foreign countries. HOWEVER, the criminal law of the UAE still applies and laws are enforced by UAE police. That’s in contrast to embassies (and I believe foreign military bases?). So if you were to commit a “lewd” homosexual act inside the airport but after pre-clearance, you’d be in violation of UAE law and subject to prosecution despite being on US soil.

In practice, it would probably never happen due to the diplomatic incident that it would create. The UAE pushed hard for a pre-clearance facility as a matter of national pride and to boost the stature of its home carrier. Prosecuting somebody would almost assuredly kill it.