<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-newton-valid-visa-detained-ice>
"When Karen Newton left home in late July 2025, she knew that international
travellers were being locked up in immigration detention centres in the US. “I
was aware,” she nods. “But I never thought it would have any impact on my
holiday.” Karen, 65, had a British passport and a tourist visa. She hadn’t been
abroad for eight years, and was keen for some guaranteed sun. “I really just
wanted to get away from the house.”
She and her husband, Bill, 66, had an ambitious itinerary that would take them
through California, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana and then on to Canada over two
months. Las Vegas wasn’t to Karen’s taste: “
Way too commercialised.” She much
preferred Yellowstone, where they saw Old Faithful, the famous geyser, as it
shot boiling water into the air, and got up close with some extraordinary
wildlife. “There was a bison right next to the car. Another time, a wolf walked
past.” Her eyes sparkle at the memory. “It was just amazing.”
The dream holiday ended abruptly on Friday 26 September, as Karen and Bill were
trying to leave the US. When they crossed the border, Canadian officials told
them they didn’t have the correct paperwork to bring the car with them. They
were turned back to Montana on the American side – and to US border control
officials. Bill’s US visa had expired; Karen’s had not.
“I worried then,” she says. “I was worried for
him. I thought, well, at least
I am here to support him.”
She didn’t know it at the time, but it was the beginning of an ordeal that
would see Karen handcuffed, shackled and sleeping on the floor of a locked
cell, before being driven for 12 hours through the night to an Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre. Karen was incarcerated for a total
of six weeks – even though she had been travelling with a valid visa.
Karen has no criminal record. She is a grandmother who spent eight years
working as an admin assistant at a primary school before her retirement. “I
don’t even have parking tickets in the background anywhere,” she says. “I am
not a dangerous criminal. I didn’t enter the country illegally and I had
everything I needed to be there.”
So why did ICE detain her, and keep her locked up for so long? A possible
answer began to emerge over the weeks she was incarcerated. As Karen got to
know the guards at the Northwest ICE Processing Center where she was held, she
kept hearing the same thing from them: that ICE officers are paid a bonus every
time they detain someone. “Individual ICE agents get money per head that they
detain – the guards told me that,” Karen says."
Via Christoph S.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
