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Another Legal Visitor Detained. [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-23
Another horror story of a law abiding foreigner visiting this nation being detained in harsh conditions by ICE has emerged. Becky Burke is a UK citizen who published comics under the name R.E. Burke. She has no criminal record anywhere.
In early January she legally came to the United States on a tourist visa. She stayed with a host families, as part of a cultural exchange programs, and helped out with household chores. She also enjoyed backpacking trips in the Pacific Northwest. Before coming she researched and made sure this was regarded as a legitimate use of the tourist visa, which does not allow someone to work in the United States. She had done precisely this arrangement in prior visits to the United States without issue.
While here she attempted to go to Canada but officials in Canada told her she had the wrong visa for that country and should get another one. On February 26 she attempted to return to the United States to catch a flight back to England. While going through the usual processing she was detained by ICE. It seems that after her January arrival in America ICE changed its mind and decided that helping out with household chores of a sponsor was not permitted on a tourist visa because it was work.
Rather than simply deport her back to England, or allow her to voluntarily leave as she planned to do, ICE detained her, in harsh some would say inhumane, conditions for nearly three weeks. She was not released until her case became a major media story in England and British diplomats made pushing for her release a priority.
The United Kingdom should be warning its citizens to not come to America because they risk arbitrary arrest and detention in inhumane conditions. Our nation should be treated like North Korea in this regard.
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