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.

  • @[email protected]
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    233 months ago

    Such an inhumane country. Keeping people in shackles like cattle. Hell, not even cattle gets treated like that.

  • Yerbouti
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    293 months ago

    Traveling to a fascist country might be challenging, I personnaly wouldn’t take the chance.

    • char_stats
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      93 months ago

      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.

      • @[email protected]
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        113 months ago

        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.

        • ddh
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          3 months ago

          This is the real way America will stop immigrants. By being completely awful.

  • @[email protected]
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    23 months ago

    Where do you find people deranged enough to do this to other human beings without any rational explanation?

    It seems like “everyday sadists” are attracted to positions of petty authority, but it appears to be a requirement to be some kinda psycho to be offered the job at the border.

    How many people oversaw this? How many questioned it? How many said nothing?

  • @[email protected]
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    543 months ago

    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.

        • @[email protected]
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          3 months ago

          Jesus this is all there is for gender/sex/race/immigrant/etc discrimination, if you can even say it’s about that

          The link about “travel and your identity” idr what it says exactly but it isn’t anything specific to US and certainly not much help in the current scenario

    • @[email protected]
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      133 months ago

      There’s some inertia that needs to be overcome, but it’s coming. UK and Germany already posted (rather tame…) advisories.

    • @[email protected]
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      53 months ago

      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.

      • Optional
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        23 months ago

        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.

      • @[email protected]
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        33 months ago

        I guess the lesson learned is just always flat out say recreation. Not working at all. She was too honest

        • @[email protected]
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          23 months ago

          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.

  • @[email protected]
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    63 months ago

    Can’t wait until the summer rolls around and the fascists start arresting kids for setting up lemonade stands and whatnot.

    • @[email protected]
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      33 months ago

      I wouldn’t be surprised at all to hear about a cop shooting a kid for opening a lemonade stand.

      • @[email protected]
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        33 months ago

        I mean, we already had a cop empty their entire mag into the woods because a walnut fell onto his car

          • @[email protected]
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            33 months ago

            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).

  • @[email protected]
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    73 months ago

    I’d like to see how policies like these affect hospitality and tourism here in the States. These stories are not good for business.

    • Atelopus-zeteki
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      43 months ago

      Frankly, it’s an upper class/ lower class situation. Welsh people, historically just couldn’t afford vowels. ;-)

  • @[email protected]
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    03 months ago

    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.

    • @[email protected]
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      43 months ago

      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

      • @[email protected]
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        13 months ago

        These weren’t “friends” houses. I personally think there should be some kind of visa for this. I just don’t like how media headlines continue to get worse. The BBC has been better than most.

  • @[email protected]
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    203 months ago

    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.

      • @[email protected]
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        53 months ago

        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.

        • @[email protected]
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          33 months ago

          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

    • AizawaC47
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      33 months ago

      Do not go to America! I wouldn’t take any chances. At this point we are a dictatorship country and you’ll be held in a prison if you can escape the corrupt pigs and ice.

      • 0^2
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        83 months ago

        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.

        • Amon
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          73 months ago

          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

        • @[email protected]
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          33 months ago

          Maybe they’ll dust off the good ole “dirty whites” hate and discriminate against jews Italians and irish again.

    • @[email protected]
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      43 months ago

      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.

      • @[email protected]
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        43 months ago

        Wasn’t it found that those two actually were spies, and it wasn’t complete bs that China made that accusation?

    • @[email protected]
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      93 months ago

      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.

    • @[email protected]
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      3 months ago

      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!

  • @[email protected]
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    03 months ago

    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.

    • @[email protected]
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      73 months ago

      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

    • @[email protected]
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      13 months ago

      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

  • Fair Fairy
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    283 months ago

    For some reason I’m confident this is not the first time this happened. But now it’s covered by European sources so news leak out to the public.

    • @[email protected]
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      123 months ago

      It happened to a well known Canadian actress (she is well known for her role in the American pie films). She was detained for months over what would have been a tiny paperwork error just a few years ago. She said that the women she was imprisoned also had no criminal record but were treated like murderers.

    • 74 183.84
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      23 months ago

      After reading some of these stories I would not visit the US right now. Id stay home and stay safe

    • @[email protected]
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      63 months ago

      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.