British tourist’s stark warning after being locked up by ICE for six weeks

A British traveller detained by Donald Trump’s ICE forces during a trip to the US has issued a stark warning to other would-be tourists.

Karen Newton set off with her husband Bill on a two-month multi-state road trip last July looking forward to some ‘guaranteed sun’.

The couple toured Nevada, Wyoming, Montana and California before they attempted to cross the border to Canada

But after being turned back by Canadian authorities for not having the correct paperwork to bring their car over, the pair were placed back in the hands of US immigration.

That was when Ms Newton suddenly found herself behind bars for six weeks after being detained by the president’s controversial ICE department.

Rather than being simply allowed to get on a flight back to the UK, the couple were first held for hours by US officers without explanation.

Ms Newton said they were kept waiting from 10.30am until the evening with no further information.

‘It was scary. You have no way of knowing what’s going to happen’, she told the Guardian.

They were both transferred to a patrol station in Montana where they were made to sleep in a cold cell without beds.

The 65-year-old retired primary school admin assistant had no outstanding fines or offenses, let alone a criminal record. She had entered the US legally on a valid tourist visa.

However authorities said that Ms Newton due to her husband, who had worked in the US with a permit but was not granted a green card and instead decided to retire in the UK.

After being interviewed separately and without offer of legal representation, Ms Newton was informed she was ‘guilty by association’ by helping her husband pack for the trip, therefore breaching the terms of her B2 tourist visa.

The pair were offered the chance to return voluntarily to the UK under Trump’s Project Homecoming scheme in exchange for a 10-year ban from entering the US, which they accepted.

But rather than being put on a flight home, they were taken to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, where they were issued with ID cards, wristbands and clothes to change into.

Separated from her husband, was told to sleep on a thin mattress on the floor after a guard dismissed her plea she was unable to climb the ladder to the top bunk as ‘crap’.

Her son Scott was also kept in the dark about her detention. Her phone was withheld and he was told by the UK Foreign Office that no inmates would be released while a federal shutdown was ongoing.

However more than 50,000 people were deported from the US in the period of paralysis between October and November, during which Ms Newton saw dozens leave the detention center.

Finally, on November 6, Ms Newton and her husband were told they were free and were driven to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

However the pair returned home to a mountain of unpaid bills, unopened letters and dead plants. Their luggage has still not been returned.

The experience has left Ms Newton grateful for small pleasures.

‘You only really appreciate your freedom when you’ve had it taken away’, she said.

She was never given a definitive reason for why she was put through this ordeal, but Ms Newton has her own explanation for why she was detained – because ICE officers are financially incentivised for every person they arrest.

The grandmother explained she had learnt from officers at the detention center that ICE received bonuses for meeting deportation targets and therefore looks to find ways to bolster the number of people removed.

A spokesperson for ICE denied this claim and said that officers were risking their lives to enforce border rules rather than make money.

Under Trump, investment in ICE has soared and the operation now commands a $84 billion budget – more than ten times its funding a decade ago.

A month into the president’s tenure last February, another Briton, Rebecca Burke, was jailed for 19 days at the same ICE facility where Ms Newton was locked up.

The following month saw the detention of Canadian actor Jasmine Mooney.

And the hardline immigration crackdown has seen numbers of tourists fall steeply, with 4.5million fewer foreigners arriving in the US in 2025.

With the Fifa World Cup co-hosted in the US fast approaching in May, this year is expected to be a big year for travel to the country.

But Ms Newton had a stark warning for those planning to make the trip to Trump’s America – don’t go there while he’s in charge.

‘It’s totally out of control over there. There’s no accountability’, she added.

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