A British cartoonist was recently detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while they were on a backpacking trip in North America.
R.E. “Becky” Burke, 28, Monmouthshire, U.K., was attempting to cross from the U.S. into Canada but was denied entry, the BBC reported. When she returned to the U.S. she was taken into custody.
She has since spent about two weeks in a processing centre in Washington state.
“They keep saying in all their booklets that this is not a prison,” she said to the news outlet. “It’s hard to distinguish from my conception of a prison.”
Burke, who sells comics and art work online, had been staying with a host family in Portland, Oregon, where she had been helping out with household chores in exchange for room and board, the BBC said.
She had made plans to travel to Vancouver from Seattle, but Canadian authorities denied her entry because they suspected she might be trying to work illegally.
Despite explaining that she was not paid for her work, officials said she had violated her visa.
When she returned to the U.S., Burke was refused re-entry and classified as an “illegal alien.”
“Becky’s current conditions are deeply concerning,” her father, Paul Burke, wrote on Facebook. “She is sharing a cell, surviving on a diet of cold rice, potatoes, and beans (she is vegan), and has limited access to phone calls. Visitors are restricted to speaking through a glass screen via telephone. All her possessions have been confiscated, and she feels isolated and desperate to come home.”
A GoFundMe set up by Paul Burke has raised over 9,000 pounds, who said on Facebook that the family has gotten legal counsel and is putting together money for a flight home. Any voluntary departure has to be approved by a judge, however.
“Everyone is actually really shocked when I explain my situation,” Burke said to the BBC.
