The family of comic creator RE Burke, aka Becky Burke, have issued a detailed statement about her recent detention nightmare in the United States, asking for it to be shared so that the many thousands who offered support after her family’s appeal for Becky’s return can see it.
“We want everyone to know how grateful we are for their support, prayers and help in raising the profile. It is the reason she is home with us now, thank you,” they explain.
As we previously reported, comic creator RE Burke, aka Becky Burke, is home after her detention nightmare in the United States, detained by the United States by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for over two weeks for travelling with wrong visa. She is now back in the UK.
Becky, 28, was denied entry into Washington State after US immigration officials accused her of travelling on the wrong visa, her plight prompting a massive campaign to free her, which we reported here.
A GoFundMe campagn fund raised over £9000 to cover legal Becky’s costs. No more donations are being taken. Any surplus will be donated to charities in the Seattle area helping people in similar situations.
In normal times, R. E. Burke, also known as Becky Burke, is a non-stop artist and creator from Monmouthshire, who studied English and Philosophy at Bristol University, and then a postgraduate degree in Publishing Media at Oxford Brookes. Despite never studying art professionally, she has developed her craft persistently and with determination, alongside her ongoing education.
After finishing her masters, Becky moved to London, where she keeps working on new artistic projects as much as possible. She also wrote for the British comic news site Broken Frontier as Rebecca Burke between 2020 and 2023.
The family have asked their statement, posted here on Facebook, be shared and we are reproducing it in full, below.
“Please share with your own networks so that the many thousands who offered support after our appeal for Becky’s return can see it,” the family have asked. “We want everyone to know how grateful we are for their support, prayers and help in raising the profile. It is the reason she is home with us now, thank you.”
Becky Burke is Home after ICE Detention Nightmare
After 19 harrowing days in ICE detention due to a visa mix-up, our daughter Becky has finally returned home to the UK. Instead of allowing her to take an immediate flight back, Homeland Security detained her in handcuffs at a Tacoma, WA facility under harsh conditions. The current immigration crackdown and systemic delays exacerbated her ordeal, worsened by a shortage of immigration judges. Becky’s nightmare ended on March 18th, and she is now beginning to recover.
The Light of Kindness and Compassion
Throughout this ordeal, we were overwhelmed by the incredible kindness of friends, strangers, experts, politicians, and the media. From visitors making long journeys to see Becky, to generous donations for necessities, we cannot express our gratitude enough. This experience has reaffirmed our faith in humanity – showing that even in the darkest times, compassion shines through.
A Word of Caution for Travellers
Becky’s story serves as a warning to anyone planning extended trips to the USA: always triple-check visa requirements and confirm them with the US Embassy. Print any documentation for added security.
Becky is also planning to produce a graphic novel highlighting her story and how it is not an isolated case. She wants to support her fellow detainees who are still locked up, a group of women who helped Becky get through this horrible experience, despite their own grim situation.
When she feels able to she will start posting again on her instagram page @R.E.Burke
Frequently Asked Questions
Did she overstay the 90 day limit on the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA) tourist visa?
No. She had only been in the USA for 50 days when she had planned to travel by bus to Canada, she was planning to spend 2 months in Canada and then fly home to the UK.
Did she break the rules of the ESTA?
The ESTA is for tourists only. For work or study a specific visa is required. Becky did a lot of research before she went and what she had planned was classed as tourism. This was accepted when she entered the US on 7th January. It was also accepted in 2023 when she spent two weeks in San Francisco, with a host family. On the 26th February, US border officers suddenly decided staying with host families and joining in with household chores was now classed as work. Our US Immigration Lawyer said they got their definition of work wrong.
Was she given a chance to return to the UK at her own cost?
No, this was not offered at the border despite this being the usual protocol for tourists. ICE had the chance to offer this at any stage during her detention, her parents even had a flight home booked for her at one point, in the hope they would let her take it, but they didn’t.
Does she have a criminal record?
No. She also has many people who testify to her good character and her gentle soul.
Was she allowed to let family know when she was being deported?
No. One of the other detainees had to call us to say she had left. Even the British Consulate were not told that she had boarded the flight. We were only certain when she arrived at Heathrow.
Was she treated with ‘dignity and respect’ as written in ICE policy.
No. She was handcuffed when she was transferred from the border to the facility. When inside the facility ICE did not communicate where she was in the process, all her possessions were confiscated, lights were on 24/7 and there were four head counts each day during which they were forced stay on their bunk for at least an hour. When she was eventually transferred to Seattle airport to fly home she was taken in leg and waist chains and handcuffs, and was escorted to the plane.
We wish Becky and her family well after this ordeal.
Other foreign nationals detained by ICE
ICE was created in 2003 through a merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the former U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. ICE now has more than 20,000 law enforcement and support personnel in more than 400 offices in the United States and around the world.
The agency is primarily devoted to three operational directorates — Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA). A fourth directorate – Management and Administration (M&A) – supports the three operational branches to advance the ICE mission.
Canadian Jasmine Mooney, her incarceration reported below, has noted some of its operations are run by private companies, including CoreCivic and GEO Group, who, the Open Secrets web site previously reported, receive government funding based on the number of people they detain, and, presumably, why they lobby for stricter immigration policies.
Sadly, US immigration authorities have chosen to treatment several travellers to America poorly in recent months.
Last week, Le Monde and other news outlets reported a French scientist, a space researcher, had his laptop searched at the US border and was sent back to Europe after private messages were found criticising President Trump. He was accused of messages which “can be described as terrorism” :
The incident happened on 9th March as the scientist, representing the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (National Centre for Scientific Research) arrived in Houston. He had all personal and professional equipment confiscated before he was ordered to fly home.
He was even told of an FBI investigation. Later, he was informed “charges were dropped”.
Responding to the arrest and treatment of the researcher, Philippe Baptiste, France’s minister of higher education and research, said in a statement: “Freedom of opinion, free research, and academic freedom are values that we will continue to proudly uphold. I will defend the right of all French researchers to be faithful to them, while respecting the law.”
Canadian Jasmine Mooney, has described in The Guardian how she was also detained by ICE for two weeks. “It felt like I had been kidnapped,” she says, the article describing the conditions she and others were held in. “I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky.”
Uk Subs band members arrested
The Guardian also reported this week that members of British punk rock band UK Subs were recently denied entry into the US. Three members of the pioneering band were detained and returned to the UK after flying to Los Angeles for a gig.
Bassist Alvin Gibbs shared details of the incident in a Facebook post on Wednesday, explaining how he, along with bandmates Marc Carrey and Stefan Häublein, were deported back to the UK following their detainment. Only vocalist Charlie Harper had been allowed entry. Harper ended up playing the band’s scheduled show in Los Angeles with a group of stand-in musicians.
“Having already been on a plane for 11 hours, upon my partner Roz and I arriving at the immigration booth we were beckoned to, we were told that Roz could go through, but something had flagged up which required my being taken away for questioning,” Alvin explained, apologising to fans for not being able to appear as planned. “There were two issues: 1) they said I didn’t have the right visa for entry and 2) there was another issue, which they wouldn’t disclose, both of which prevented me from being allowed into America – I’m now wondering if my regular and less than flattering public pronouncements regarding their president and his administration were a factor; or maybe that’s just me succumbing to paranoia.”
Alvin was then taken by two police officers to another part of LAX and escorted to “a very cold holding pen where I discovered Stefan and Marc in situ along with some Columbian, Chinese and Mexican detainees.“
After hours in detention, the band members were put on flights home.
“I’m really sad that the true UK Subs were unable to provide the performance and the diverse set we’d prepared, all of which the audience deserved; although kudos and congrats are in order for the three musicians who stepped in last minute to play with Charlie.“
Despite events, Alvin has chosen to put a brave face on what happened. “Honestly, I’m kind of proud of myself for being thrown out of America at the age of 67, now knowing that my relationships with that country is over for the foreseeable future. And maybe, just maybe, that’s why the chorus of track 3, side 1, of the first Clash album keeps running around my head.”
The UK Subs return to Scotland on Saturday 26th April for Scotland Calling 2025 at the O2 Academy in Glasgow, to play alongside the Cockney Rejects, Anti-Nowhere League, Spear of Destiny, Bar Stool Preachers, Random Hand, Riskee and The Ridicule, Cyanide Pills, Fire Exit, and The Undertones. Tickets are available here
US Visa Advice Changed by UK and Germany’s Foreign Office
Both the United Kingdom and Germany have updated their travel guidance for their citizens planning to travel to the United States after several tourists were detained by US immigration authorities in recent months.
The UK Foreign Office updated guidance on its website for citizens traveling to the US currently states, as of Monday 24th March 2025: “You should comply with all entry, visa and other conditions of entry. The authorities in the U.S. set and enforce entry rules strictly. You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules.” This is a recent change to the page. The US Embassy in London has information on how to apply for a visa.
The US Embassy in London has information on how to apply for a visa
Germany’s Foreign Office has also updated its travel advisory, in German, for the United States to emphasise that a visa or waiver allowing entry does not guarantee Germans to enter the US, after several of its citizens were detained at the border. The Office cautions that entry through the ESTA system or a US visa is not guaranteed every time and that the U.S. border control has final decision.
“It is recommended that you bring proof of your return journey upon entry,” the German Foreign Office advises.
This article was updated on Monday 24th March 2025 to add information on updated UK and German visa advice
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds
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