Shocking purpose British vegan artist was hurled in ICE custody…as US’ closest allies situation journey warnings
A British artist was thrown into ICE custody after accepting lodging in exchange for work, violating her tourist visa waiver in the process.
Becky Burke, 28, was handcuffed and taken to a detention cell in Tacoma, Washington, on February 26 and is now back in the UK following the ordeal.
She touched back down on Tuesday, with her parents Paul and Andrea telling the BBC she was getting free accommodation for helping families with chores.
Her father Paul believes that in doing so she had essentially broken the terms of her tourist visa waiver, which bans vacationers from doing work while in the US.
US State Department guidance says that those on visitor visas are prohibited from carrying out employment while in the US.
Burke had been classified as an ‘illegal alien‘ after she attempted to cross the border into Canada with an ‘incorrect visa’.
The vegan comic book artist was then detained after trying to get back into the US, where she had spent the last few months traveling.
On Thursday, the UK increased its travel warning for those looking to enter the USA as the Trump administration continues to crack down on immigration, with tourists among those affected.
Becky Burke, 28, was handcuffed and taken to a detention cell in Tacoma, Washington, on February 26 and is now back in the UK
On Thursday, the UK increased its travel warning for those looking to enter the US during the Trump administrations crackdown on immigration
In a new post to the country’s foreign office website, it says: ‘You should comply with all entry, visa and other conditions of entry.
‘The authorities in the U.S. set and enforce entry rules strictly. You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules.’
Prior to the new post, guidance was more brief and did not make any mention about being arrested or detained.
Germany also updated its travel advisory to the US to emphasize that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry.
That new advice comes after German tattoo artist Jessica Brösche, 26, met a similar fate after she tried to walk through a checkpoint at the southern border.
Brösche was arrested by border agents when she tried to cross from Tijuana into San Diego on January 25.
Brösche was traveling with her American friend Nikita Lofving as a tourist under the ESTA visa waiver program. The two had met in Tijuana and were carrying tattooing equipment.
Immigration officials reportedly accused Brösche of working in the US the last time she entered the country with the ESTA program, an electronic system that determines whether someone is eligible to enter the US without a visa.
Lofving told the outlet she asked officials if Brösche could be sent back to Mexico, but they said she would be deported to Germany in three to five days because she could not offer proof of residence in the Latin American country.
German tattoo artist Jessica Brösche, 26, says she was left in solitary confinement with over a week after being arrested while trying to legally cross the US-Mexico border
American Pie actress Jasmine Mooney was also detained by ICE for nearly two weeks
But Brösche says she spent days in a cell at the San Diego border before she was taken into ICE custody and brought to the the Otay Mesa Detention Center, where she has been held for more than a month.
‘I just want to get home, you know? I’m really desperate,’ she told ABC 10. Her detainment included a ‘horrible’ eight days in solitary confinement, she added.
American Pie actress Jasmine Mooney was also detained by ICE for nearly two weeks.
The 35-year-old had been denied entry into the country while trying to make her way from Mexico to San Diego, California after her work visa was revoked back in November while traveling from Vancouver to Los Angeles.
The American Pie: The Book of Love star landed back on Canadian soil on Saturday as her mother, Alexis Eagles, and friends met her at Vancouver International Airport around midnight.
According to her mother, who’s been fighting for her daughter’s return home, Mooney was detained at the San Ysidro border crossing before being transferred to San Luis Regional Detention Center in Arizona.
While she was there, Mooney said she endured some of the harshest treatment there that left her weak and confused.
After being arrested and taken to the detention center, Mooney was featured in an emotional interview with ABC10, where she sobbed describing the conditions she and other women faced.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this,’ she told the outlet. ‘I feel like we have been kidnapped, and we are in some sort of insane social, psychological, social experiment.’
Welling up, Mooney added: ‘I really want to be a voice for the women in here, because what is happening is so unjust and I know that there’s a better way to do this.’
She also noted how her time in custody made her severely confused.
‘It’s been 11 days now, and I have no idea what is going on, they don’t tell you anything, and I have lost so much weight. I’m truly, physically, weak.’
The rise in tourists being detained was green-lighted by President Trump as part of his ‘Securing Our Borders’ executive order signed in hours after the inauguration.
