- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
Summary
Welsh tourist Becky Burke was detained for 19 days in a US immigration facility and transported in chains like “Hannibal Lecter” after alleged visa violations.
Burke had been backpacking and staying with host families in exchange for help around the house, which authorities suspected breached her tourist visa conditions.
Deported on March 18, she described the ordeal as traumatizing. Her parents criticized the harsh treatment and are considering addressing the issue politically.
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Why are we not seeing more travel advisories? I know of a few but if this was any other nation you would have advisories from almost everyone by now.
It’s happening, slowly but surely. UK issued one today.
Like how of any nation is that green?
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Such an inhumane country. Keeping people in shackles like cattle. Hell, not even cattle gets treated like that.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44518942 And yet, he was voted in AGAIN.
Another reminder: these, and all the detention facilities are privately owned and for profit. The motivation is to have a full house to maximize profits.
Just more systems put in place to worship the American God: money.
No crime is too great as long as the parasites at the top are taking more and more and more of our wealth and prosperity from us.
Me (British) and my American gf are planning to visit her friends and family over the summer in Navada, Washington and New Mexico. Not so sure i want to go anymore.
Don’t. I used to hike around the southern states for fun. Currently residing in one. The border patrol goons are just headhunting to fill quotas now. Anybody is game. I myself am planning my move out of country right now. Even the magats are not safe and are willing to sacrifice themselves for their hateful ideals.
Geezus. I’m right next door (Canadian), and I wouldn’t even consider going there. They’re going to start using ANY excuse to detain people. In December 2018, Canadian nationals Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were taken into custody in China. It appeared that their detention on December 10 and subsequent indictment under the state secrets law were linked to the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, in Canada on December 1. In English-language media, the pair are frequently and colloquially referred to as the Two Michaels. Wikipedia. EDIT: I spent 35 years crossing the border camping, shopping, and feeling like I was with trusted neighbours. Really sad…
Stay the fuck away.
If either one of you is even the slightest bit tanned, not that I find that likely in Britain, but I digress, neither one of you should even consider coming to this hateful place for the next four years at least.
You think he will be gone after 4?
As I said, “at least.” I fully expect this bullshit to take multiple decades to Luigi everyone that is causing it because they just won’t stop being greedy and hateful.
I enjoy seeing Luigi as a verb.
Dictatorship does not have fair elections.
Hopefully he’ll be deceased long before then but the reich is busy stacking courts and appointing party line people to jobs they have no qualifications for.
If you think he will, you haven’t been paying attention. Is more likely that he dies and the weird face guy has to take the copilot seat while Elon drives, just like today.
100% trust your gut. It’s not a good idea.
Don’t.
At this point I would recommend against any non-US national from traveling to the US.
And i would recommend anyone from the US, already traveling outside, and not 100% bleach white, to increase your vacation time for a few years and not come back if possible as you will probably be detained even with a legit passport and documentation. Maybe seek asylum.
not 100% bleach white
More like any from:
- Not 100% bleach white
- Not 4 generations American
- Not a MAGA
- LGBTQ+
- Related to any anti-MAGAs
- Is pro-Palestinian or pro-Ukraine
- Has any part of their identity that can be used as an excuse to deport
Basically everyone other than Trump and the core MAGAs
Maybe they’ll dust off the good ole “dirty whites” hate and discriminate against jews Italians and irish again.
I’m Latino Canadian so I’m not going anywhere near the u.s, fuck that.
I’m brown in the US and I try not going anywhere. Every morning I have to drive by a school zone to get to the freeway and the police always parks right by the 20mph sign. If you don’t see the fucker there, he is somewhere already detaining someone.
I’ve got a few friends that were adopted , one of Columbian decent the other Korean. I askd them how their feeling about all this if theyre worried. My Columbian buddy is a little concerned , wants tinted windows on his car etc., cant say i blame him.
Back during fuckboys first term my Korean buddy got locked up for a few months (non violent crime). I went to pick him up , when I got to the jail they said he was being detained. I got in touch later that evening and he was released. They were about to send him to Washington D.C. to get sent back to south Korea because of some bull shit error on his adoption paperwork from the early 80’s. Luckily it all got straitened out but he was scared , he said they weren’t fucking around. He was terrified he was going to get sent back to a country he left at 3 years old with no chance to return over a clerical error.
I could only imagine the wrong people (im not saying anyone deserves this level of harassment) are going to get hammered by all this hair trigger jackboot coward behavior.
I hope you don’t get fucked with out there
Call ICE hotline, explain that her friends and family are all illegal aliens, then you can all meet at the ICE detention centre - no planning stress!
It’s not safe here
A US customs spokesman previously said they could not discuss specific cases but that travellers were treated with “integrity, respect and according to law”.
Bullshit. Too many stories are coming out that prove that’s a lie.
Fuck America and fuck Trump.
The “according to the law” line gets me, the laws are inhumane, you’re not a good person because you enforce nazi laws
There is no law anymore. This is full on dictatorship. Judges are being ignored. SCOTUS is complicit.
Trump’s tenure really exposes how many people work in various law enforcement functions apparently just for the privilege to humiliate and hurt people.
Uhhhh, that shits been exposed for way longer than krasnov has been around. Y’all just weren’t paying attention.
But now they openly agree, admit, and even brag that the cruelty was the point.
I still don’t think that’s a recent phenomenon.
I agree. It’s always been bubbling under the surface. Trump ignited the filth.
Y’all are not on the same page. That shit has been out in the open for ages. Its not been hidden, its not just surfacing, its not been getting worse. Its always been there, y’all have just been fucking oblivious.
When you have people decrying the “sin” of empathy. Then, yes, cruelty is the point.
At all levels too. I mean, why the 24 hours a day fluorescent lights so you don’t know night from day? How does that help? Hell, how does it even make more money? Even with senior management, the cruelty is the point.
The War on drugs has been going for decades with bipartisan support.
And he is their patron saint now.
Anybody who still travels to the Untied States at this point is a fool
I do that with regimes. I started out with Turkey, added Hungary and Israel, Russia, Philippines Saudi Arabia and quatar
Countries I’d visit are shrinking.
So long as Magats remain in charge, traveling to the US is now like traveling to China. You’ll probably see some pretty cool things but also have an above 0% chance for a life traumatizing event.
After reading some of these stories I would not visit the US right now. Id stay home and stay safe
They don’t want foreigners in that country any more, and are willing to treat them badly to get their message across.
Don’t end up in one of their detainment concentration camps, you never know when you’ll be allowed to leave, the way they keep suddenly changing how they do things - for the worse - every few weeks, it could be never.
Don’t go to that country. It’s too dangerous.
Our government certainly doesn’t want foreigners here, but the people remain welcoming.
I lived in San Diego, CA for the entirety of Trump’s first term. He kept making it sound like criminals were flooding in there, and harming us. The narrative was that we were victims, and he was some sort of hero.
The reality was we love our Mexican neighbors… And we fucking hate that asshole for lying and demonizing our friends, colleagues, and family members.
This all said, it is not safe here any longer for us in the long term, or foreigners in the short term. He has lost his damn mind, literally, and his followers are brainwashed. America is unsafe, and unstable.
I don’t know if I trust the people either when Trump has a nearly 50% approval rating
As an American, I agree with you. I DONT trust my neighbors or colleagues.
We should demolish the iron curtain splitting the San Diego - Tijuana metro in half
Also they might just deport you to some concentration camp in El Salvador for having the wrong tattoo and who knows if you can get out of there ever again. I wouldn’t trust anyone saying “they would never do that to tourists” at this point.
Well, you won’t see me entering the US anytime soon.
Traveling to a fascist country might be challenging, I personnaly wouldn’t take the chance.
Or, at least, only go with organized tours and a local guide. As long as you don’t steal any propaganda posters, you should survive.
Anyone willing to encourage tourism to America by being such a guide would probably take your money and then find a reason to get you arrested by ICE anyway. Not like you could take it up with a consumer protection agency now.
Can’t wait until the summer rolls around and the fascists start arresting kids for setting up lemonade stands and whatnot.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all to hear about a cop shooting a kid for opening a lemonade stand.
I mean, we already had a cop empty their entire mag into the woods because a walnut fell onto his car
HEY NOW, it was an acorn. Way different.
Also it wasn’t the woods, but an already detained “suspect” in the back of their police cruiser (where suspect is just really a person of colour in the wrong place at the wrong time).
Cops are the main violent gang in my community
They probably freaked out when she started speaking Welsh. Understandable.
Frankly, it’s an upper class/ lower class situation. Welsh people, historically just couldn’t afford vowels. ;-)
You mean when they spoke terrorist? /s
They did this to a white person?!?!?! That’s news!
smh
They are absolutely desperate to fill their quotas, they’re selfish cowards who know how quickly their Dear Leader will throw them under the bus if they don’t
Omg I was actually worried for a second! She had to shuffle lol true this maybe embarrassing and the process dehumanising. People are dying under state powers.
These are the privileged individuals who get good media coverage (read: conventionally attractive young white women) and have wealth and/or connections. Everyone knows that if this is how they’re treating the most privileged of people, it’s going to be 100x worse for those who aren’t as privileged. Covering abuses in the news that are indefensible makes it much harder to ignore the less black and white abuses that are happening every day
Why was she refused entry to Canada?
This is a better article but basically she was ‘working’ in the US by exchanging help around the house for a place to stay. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80y3yx1jdyo
Apparently the Canadians were concerned she’d work while in Canada? This kind of housework for accommodation is super common in the backpacking, hostel, hitchhiking kind of space. It’s ridiculous to treat tourists like this because of simply doing a little house work.
Another example with hikers going along the AT or PCT will frequently do housework like activities to payback hostels or shuttle drivers.
I guess the lesson learned is just always flat out say recreation. Not working at all. She was too honest
Some people enjoy housework.
Just explain that you indulge in some hobbies during your downtime while on vacation.
I like to read when I get back to the hotel on vacation. Others might like to do some light carpentry or landscaping.
They did the same to an artist. Just say recreation if that’s your intent.
Oh sure, it’s all wink-wink-nod when it’s a white person, but soon enough you know who’ll be “backpacking” around? Brown people!. that’s right.
I’m sorry to scare you so, but this is very important in today’s fascist putsching.
Most countries are pretty strict with what you are and aren’t allowed to do while on a tourist visa. For example, tourists are generally not allowed to work or earn income while visiting, you need a work visa for that. Now I’m not 100% versed on how work is defined in this case, but they must have interpreted her chores-for-accommodation setup as work. Not excusing what they did to her, just providing context on the restrictions of tourist visas. I’m sure a lot of people have been doing this for a while, and the current immigration climate is likely why they’re just flagging it now.
How did they even know?
Border agents usually ask where you will be staying for the duration of your trip. They can also ask how you will be supporting yourself. She likely answered honestly and said she will be doing chores for host families in exchange for accommodation, which they probably interpreted as her working. Normally, a typical tourist will have hotel/airbnb reservations and border agents can ask to see those as proof.
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The interesting thing about this is the amount of spin the bbc is putting on it. They generally do far less of that than US media outlets. But calling her a tourist in the headline is a clear misrepresentation. And really, they didn’t even need to go there. The real story was already bad enough. She could have been full on running a housekeeping business, and the chains still would be ridiculous cruelty worth reporting on. Even Canada said no way when she tried to enter as a “tourist”. But I guess she should have asked for assylum rather than come back to the US at that point.
But calling her a tourist in the headline is a clear misrepresentation
Sure thing, and if you stay over at a friend’s house and make the bed in the morning it’s their legal obligation to report you for not obtaining a proper license for your housecleaning business first /s
Yes it curious. I expect it’s just some young keen reporter exploiting the zeitgeist.
Like a lot of countries, the US have never been kind to visa abusers, but chaining them up is new. I note they haven’t asked her how it happened and she has t said, yet.
No pain, no chain.
