I was a British tourist trying to leave America. Then I was detained, shackled and sent to an immigration detention centre

Comments

• i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Her advice to anyone planning to travel to the US is simply not to go. “First, because of the danger of what could happen to you. And, secondly, do you really want to give your money to this country right now?”

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  • alykanas@slrpnk.net ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    When in fact her advice should have been “understand the terms of your visa”

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    • cyrano@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Yeah

      She had been travelling on her own, staying on homestays free of charge in exchange for doing household chores, drawing as she went. For Burke, 28, it was absolute freedom.

      Within hours of posting that drawing, Burke got to see a much darker side of life in America, and far more than a glimpse. When she tried to cross into Canada, Canadian border officials told her that her living arrangements meant she should be travelling on a work visa, not a tourist one. They sent her back to the US, where American officials classed her as an illegal alien. She was shackled and transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention centre, where she was locked up for 19 days – even though she had money to pay for a flight home, and was desperate to leave the US.

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    • sping@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Meh, sure she was wrong on that, but that doesn’t justify taking her into custody and refusing to allow her to go home.

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• pleasegoaway@lemm.ee ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I want to know who narced on her.

  She was just doing chores at houses in exchange for boarding. She wasn’t paid. She just did chores.

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  • Tweak@feddit.uk ⁨46⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

    She narced on herself to Canada, then America overheard.

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  • troyunrau@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    That would qualify as work according to the US gov. Because by doing these chores, you are potentially causing someone to not need to pay a nanny or whatever. Be careful how you define work – you don’t need to be directly paid.

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    • obinice@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      By throwing your rubbish in a bin whilst in the USA, you are causing the city to not need to pay a litter picker to collect and throw your rubbish into a bin.

      I know I’m just being silly, and I know you’re not wrong, I’m just sayin. There’s a thousand ways one could look at almost any action and suggest ways in which it is “work” if we define it as causing someone else to not have to do a job or get paid for something.

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• CautiousPickle@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  This article could have been written as a warning to others about lying to Immigration officials and the possible repercussions but they just go straight to making this girl the poor victim.

  The whole article can be summed up with, If you lie to ICE (FA) and they find out (FO) you’re going to have a bad time.

  She had been travelling on her own, staying on homestays free of charge in exchange for doing household chores, drawing as she went. For Burke, 28, it was absolute freedom.

  It’s not free of charge if you have to work in exchange for room and board. She was employed by the home owners and instead of cash she got a room.

  Her whole trip was planned around working off her room and board with manual labor. She knew exactly what she was doing, she lied, she got caught.

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  • CrowyTech@feddit.uk ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    That maybe so, but why such an excessive stay? Stick her on a plane, sorted.

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    • Tweak@feddit.uk ⁨35⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

      While I agree the time in detention was excessive, this wasn’t at an airport, it was at the Canadian land border. So it’s understandable that she wouldn’t immediately get on a plane back home - she’d likely have to be taken to a central facility and then transferred to an airport. But yeah, that shouldn’t take 3 weeks.

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  • Nay@feddit.nl ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    If they didn’t want to go to prison, they shouldn’t have stolen the candy bar. FAFO! Also I hate authoritarians. FREEDOM!

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• comrade_twisty@feddit.org ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Best to get a lobotomy before going to the US that way they won’t be able to accuse you of trying to work illegally while you’re there. It also has the benefit that you’ll finally be on the same mental level as Trump and his supporters.

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• Professorozone@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I’m sorry, but this is NOT the kind of person I want in prison. AND I don’t want prisons profiting off her misery.

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• alykanas@slrpnk.net ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Did you not simply say “British ! Enough of your nonsense! “ and come home to your king ?

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