A 65-year-old woman with a valid British passport and tourist visa was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) along with her 66-year-old husband for 45 days as they were trying to leave the United States at the end of their vacation.
Karen Newton told her story to The Guardian and issued a stark warning against U.S. travel to other tourists. “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,” the British tourist warned.
What’s particularly unusual about her story is that she was detained despite having a valid tourist visa—and she was seemingly held responsible for her husband’s documents having expired, according to her account of events.
A British Tourist Was Detained In The U.S. For Six Weeks—Reportedly For Another Person’s Expired Visa
What began as a beautiful trip through California, Nevada, Wyoming, and Montana ended in a nightmare that lasted over six weeks for Karen Newton from the United Kingdom.
Karen was traveling under perfectly legal tourist documentation, but her husband Bill’s visa had expired. Both were detained in a nightmarish situation that lasted for six weeks. First, they were held in an office from 10:30 am till nightfall.
“It was scary. You have no way of knowing what’s going to happen. It got darker and darker. And then other agents turned up with all these chains and handcuffs,” Karen described to The Guardian.
When officials finally came for them, Karen and Bill were shackled at the ankles, wrists, and waists. The couple was transported in the middle of the night to the Sweetgrass border patrol station in Montana. There, they had to sleep on the floor, “chilled to the bone,” with nothing but mats and foil blankets for three days.
When the situation was finally explained, Karen came to understand that she was being detained because her husband did not have a green card when he worked in the U.S. previously. Bill became frustrated with the appeals process, and the couple ultimately decided to retire back to the U.K. Because Karen helped Bill pack for his trip, she was told she had violated the terms of her B2 tourist visa and was guilty by association.
Bill and Karen were encouraged to volunteer for self-removal. This would involve a free flight home and an “exit bonus,” but the couple would be banned from the U.S. for up to 10 years and waive their right to appear in court before a judge. Anxious to go home and end their ordeal, the couple agreed.
Though they expected to go home, Karen and Bill were transported to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, which Karen describes as a prison.
“It’s called a detention facility, but it’s really a prison,” she told The Guardian. “Locking doors, guards everywhere, cells, everything clamped to the floor—it’s how I imagine a prison to be. Prison would actually be better, because if you’re in prison, you get a sentence—they tell you how long you are going to be there.”
Unable to climb to the top bunk in her cell, Karen was forced to sleep on a thin mattress on the floor until her cellmate, another older woman, was transferred to a different level because her aging knees could no longer manage the stairs. Karen and her husband were detained for a total of 45 days before they were suddenly released, with little explanation about the length of their stay.
However, Karen told The Guardian that, while inside the detention facility, she learned the possible reason why ICE agents were so eager to detain her, despite the fact that she had a valid tourist visa. In fact, she said the officers told her this information themselves.
ICE Incentivized To Detain As Many People As Possible
In May 2025, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told Fox News that the Trump administration was increasing their goal to 3,000 arrests by ICE every day. He went on to say, “President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day.”
According to Karen, this initiative may have something to do with her detainment, even though she had valid documents to visit the U.S.
“Individual ICE agents get money per head that they detain—the guards told me that,” Karen told The Guardian. “I was told this by multiple sources. There is all the incentive in the world to find a reason—any reason—not to let someone go.”
“The new data confirms that the Trump administration isn’t focused on legitimate public safety risks, but rather on hitting politically motivated arrest targets,” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, told Axios.
With an alleged extreme motivation to detain as many people as possible, it seems that any foreigner in the United States might be at risk, hence Karen’s warning to other tourists.
A Growing Number Of Travelers Are Being Detained In The U.S.
Karen is far from the only tourist to be detained in the U.S. over the past year. German tourist Jessica Brösche (seen above on Facebook) was detained in January 2025 when she attempted to enter the U.S. from Mexico at the San Diego border. Despite having a valid Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), she spent 45 days in the Otay Mesa Detention Center, including eight in solitary confinement.
In February 2025, British backpacker Rebecca Burke was detained while trying to leave the U.S., much like Karen. Rebecca, who posted about her story on Instagram, seen below, traveled to America for six weeks, backpacking through the country and enjoying homestays throughout her travels. Burke was stopped at the Canadian border and incarcerated for 19 days. Officials told her that she should have been traveling on a work visa, not a tourist one.
Ultimately, Karen’s harrowing experience has left her deeply concerned for other travelers visiting the United States. She urges international travelers to avoid the U.S., saying, “Don’t go,” and saying, “If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.”
