ICE Puts Tourists in Prison
Headlines focus on Germans and Brits who flouted the law and paid the price
I hesitate to amplify the recent stories of some white Western European tourists who may have violated their tourist status and found themselves detained by ICE in preparation for deportation. Though in many cases the treatment they received was horrifying, hundreds of thousands of immigrants of color have experienced worse. And reports of recent arrests of a handful of European tourists does make one wonder: did they think the laws didn’t apply to them?
Reports of recent arrests of a handful of European tourists does make one wonder: did they think the laws didn’t apply to them?
Nonetheless, I am writing about this because it is simply mind-boggling that the U.S. government would expend the time and resources to treat tourists as if they were dangerous invaders who must be made an example of. Below are a few recent stories that, if nothing else, will leave you scratching your head. What is going on here?
Visa Waiver Program
As background, most tourists who are citizens or nationals of one of 41 countries designated in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program can enter the United States for up to 90 days without a visa (though they do have to fill out an online Electronic System for Travel Application (ESTA) before they can board a plane bound for the United States).
In return for the convenience of being able to travel to the United States without having to apply for a visa from a U.S. consular post abroad, visa waiver travelers give up certain rights: they cannot extend their period of stay within the United States; they cannot apply to change their immigration status; if they travel to Canada or Mexico during their trip, they must return to the United States within the 90-day period mentioned above; and if they overstay beyond the 90 days, they can be deported without the right to have a hearing before an immigration judge (unless they apply for asylum).
ICE Cracks Down on Germans and Brits?
This is the context in which two German tourists (traveling separately) were recently denied entry into the United States at the San Ysidro land border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego. But they weren’t just turned away; they were both taken to detention centers, without understanding why they were being detained.
One of the Germans, a 29-year-old tattoo artist named Jessica Brösche, was actually put into solitary confinement for nine of the 46 days she spent in detention. Lucas Sielaff, 25, arrested at the same border crossing, was held for 16 days before he was deported.
It is impossible to know all the facts, but it’s likely that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents suspected that Brösche, who had tattoo equipment in her luggage, was planning to work illegally in the United States. Sielaff said he had been visiting his American fiancée in Las Vegas, then travelled together with her to Tijuana. When seeking to re-enter the United States, he was questioned about his place of residence, which indicates that CBP officers may have suspected that he had been living in the United States without authorization. I should also note that having an American fiancée raises legitimate questions about whether Sielaff might have the intent to immigrate to the United States.
In another case, a 28-year-old British tourist, Rebecca Burke, had tried to enter Canada via a land border in the State of Washington, but was turned away when she explained that she planned on staying with a host family where she would carry out domestic chores in exchange for accommodation. Canadian officials told her that she should have applied for a work visa, and sent her back to the U.S. side to execute the appropriate paperwork. But then U.S. CBP officers interrogated her and ended up denying her entry into the United States and sent her to immigration detention. It turns out that she had previously stayed with a family in Portland, Oregon, under a similar arrangement (for which, incidentally, there is no available U.S. visa).
Burke was reportedly handcuffed and sent to a detention center in Tacoma, where she was outfitted in an orange prison jumpsuit. Like with the German tourists, CBP officers had good reason to deny her entry into the United States, based on the information they elicited from her.
In all three cases, the tourists did not appear to understand why they were denied entry and why they were thrown into detention, and for many days their families had no idea where they were or what had happened to them.
The question is not why these tourists were treated like criminals: handcuffed, put in orange jumpsuits, held in prison-like conditions including solitary confinement. The question is why any foreign national potentially subject to deportation is treated this way.
Why Are Tourists and Migrants Treated Like Criminals?
Tourists who inadvertently violate the terms of the visa waiver program are subject to deportation under the law. However, it seems clear to me that these cases have garnered so much press attention for the wrong reasons — i.e., because these were young white adults from Western European countries.
The question is not why these tourists were treated like criminals: handcuffed, put in orange jumpsuits, held in prison-like conditions including solitary confinement. The question is why any foreign national potentially subject to deportation is treated this way.
Think about it: many if not most foreign nationals who come to the United States without a proper visa do so to escape persecution or violence, to access education for themselves or their children, or simply to work in order to feed their families. Crossing the border without authorization is a misdemeanor; being present in the United States without authorization is a civil violation. So why is the U.S. government banging on doors, arresting immigrants (and tourists) without a warrant, putting them in shackles and orange jumpsuits, and holding them for days, weeks or longer in prison?
First they came for the immigrants….
Links:
German tourists’ ordeal reportedly ending as they are returned from US detention (The Guardian, 3/11/25)
German Tourists Detained for Weeks, Then Deported From U.S. (NYT, 3/13/25)
British tourist detained by US authorities for 10 days over visa issue (The Guardian, 3/10/25)
British Backpacker Thrown Into 'Cold' ICE Detention For Days Over Visa Dispute (HuffPost, 3/11/25)
I've been discussing the British case for the last few days in various British FB groups after her father posted his appeal which was disingenuous to say the least. As you say, most people are outraged but quite happy to minimize her violation of status. When I point out she was in breach of her tourist stay I get accused of being a Trumper! Yours, Michelle
It has been obvious for a long time why ICE does this: Money. There are huge profits to be made from locking people up in ICE detention. Private prison companies in the US have long known that the supply of actual criminals who can be locked up is limited, so they've lobbied for years to have more people classified as eligible to be locked up. Follow the money . . .