Mar 10 2025
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Chilling: British Tourist Detained In USA Over “Visa Violation”

By Leila

a group of people sitting in a room

In an era of tightened borders and a new emphasis on enforcement in the Trump Administration, foreign visitors to the USA must be very careful not to run afoul of the visa they are traveling on. One 28-year-old British tourist has learned the hard way as she remains locked up in an American jail over a purported visa violation.

British Tourist Sits In Jail After Being Accused Of Working In USA

Let’s review the story and then discuss the implications for transatlantic travel:

  • Becky Burke lives in Wales
  • As part of her backpacking trip to North America, she obtained free accommodation at various homes in the USA and Canada in exchange for “helping host families around the house”
  • While she had no trouble entering the USA, in February she tried to travel from Seattle, Washington over the Canadian border to Vancouver, British Columbia
  • She was denied entry to Canada because officials felt she was going to “work” illegally in Canada
  • Then she was detained while trying to re-enter the USA, with a US official also determining that her “host family cultural exchange” constituted work
  • The US Department of Homeland Security placed Burke in an immigration detention center 10 days ago, where she remains today
  • Burke has been allowed to use a shared iPad to call her parents and others, but cannot receive any calls
  • While the family has reached out to the British consulate in San Francisco, it claims “official channels can’t get a clear answer about what is going on”
  • The Trump administration has expanded its “voluntary departure” program and theoretically it should be easy for Burke to get on a plane and fly back to the UK
  • But such voluntary departure must be approved by a judge and the Trump administration has fired several judges that handle these cases
  • The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is working to free her from US detention and get her home

This news is making headlines across Europe, but only starting to filter through the US media. I find the ramifications stark: even if Burke was in the wrong (I’m not an immigration attorney and I cannot definitively say one way or another), this move could place a chill on all valid and legal travel to the United States.

I think it’s reasonable to question whether a chores-for-lodging arrangement violates the conditions of a tourist visa. But good-faith mistakes should not be met by imprisonment, especially of Western nationals who have no incentive to stay in the USA on a long-term basis.

My wife Heidi and I have talked about hiring a German au pair to help us with the kids and if we do move forward with that, we will make sure we are not running afoul of any US immigration laws…reasonable or not, ignorance of the law is not generally an excuse

CONCLUSION

A 28-year-old British national remains in a US detention center for purportedly violating her tourist visa by exchanging housing for chores.

For me the issue is not so much whether she violated the law or not, but once it was determined that she did violate the law, why would a British national have to sit for 10 days in an American detention facility instead of being put on a flight back to London. What purpose does it possibly serve and at what cost to taxpayers?

My concern is that more cases like this will have a chilling effect on international travel to the USA, dampening demand just when airlines are gearing up for a record spring and summer of transatlantic travel.

image: a DHS detention center in Arizona

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