A British tourist has issued a warning to travelers after spending six weeks detained by ICE.
Karen Newton, 65, was traveling through California, Nevada, Wyoming, and Montana with her husband Bill before trying to enter Canada in September 2025. Canadian officials said the couple lacked the correct paperwork. While Bill’s US visa had expired, Karen’s was still valid, yet she was detained.
She described being handcuffed, driven for 12 hours, and held at a border patrol station for three days, sleeping on mats on the floor. “It was scary. You have no way of knowing what’s going to happen. It got darker and darker,” she said.
ICE accused her of violating her tourist visa by helping her husband pack for the trip. The couple agreed to “self-removal,” a program where the US government pays for flights home, but Karen was separated from her husband and transferred to a detention facility she described as “really a prison.”
For over a month, she slept on a thin mattress on the floor. While some staff were helpful, she said many appeared indifferent to her situation. Karen claimed she heard that ICE agents receive bonuses for detaining people, though the agency denied this.
She was finally released on November 6, reunited with her husband, and flown back to the UK. Her confiscated luggage was never returned.
Karen now warns others: “Don’t go – not with Trump in charge. It’s totally out of control over there. There’s no accountability. They don’t seem to need a reason for detaining you.”
Her story highlights the risks travelers can face navigating US border and immigration systems, even with valid visas.
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